Not all Dark witches are Death Eaters
by Ryua Malfoy
Summary: Ryua Malfoy is growing up into a competent, proud young witch, at least she would if she could get away from her Father. And she's got some plans about that too...
1. BOOK ONE:The Beginning

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.

The Beginning

"Now, just push Narcissa, I know you can push harder..."

_Ooh, I'd love to see him try to push harder, that useless, disgusting, ignorant idiot...mudblood!_ Narcissa thought to herself. She would likely have said something unladylike at this point, but was having troubles breathing. _Why did Lucius pick this aggravating doctor anyway? (because he's a pureblood. Aargh!) Why couldn't he let me have a decent midwife? It's not as if he's having babies. Oh, it's all his fault...  
_

And so it was. Narcissa Black-Malfoy was expecting, and expecting big. Actually, she was expecting twins, and was desperately hoping the firstborn at least would be male. Lucius so wanted a male heir... if it wasn't, he would berate her, and write off the daughter as stillborn at the least ... NO! Although she often had little say in Lucius' decisions, she would sooner die than let her children come to harm. It had to be a son, it had to be...

"Excellent!" The loud cry shocked Narcissa out of her pain-soaked reflections and she jerked her head upright. The doctor was busy with a bundle of squalling cloth at the end of the bed.

"What is it? What is it, you little, insignificant..."

"Now, now, little mother, no need to get upset. You must birth the secondborn before you have this little one, you know that." Actually, this made no sense whatsoever to Narcissa. She wanted her son... her son, oh, no, it just had to be... "And here's your second! Well done, my dear!" the seedy wizard said with an oily smile that did nothing to reassure the panicked, exhausted new mother. "Here you go, now, relax, oh don't glare at me that way, your firstborn and secondborn. A fine son and daughter." Narcissa, relieved, reached out to take the two bundles. "Now, leave. I wish privacy with my children. You have done your job." Still intimidated by the aristocratic bearing of even an exhausted Narcissa, the shady doctor slunk out of the room. She looked down at her twins, a peaceful, happy expression slowly coming onto a face accustomed to sneers or tears. _But why, she thought, did he not let me see my little son at first? Oh, oh, no, he wouldn't... but what other reason...?_ For Narcissa realized her daughter was the firstborn, and should be the legitimate heir of the Malfoy fortunes, but Lucius would never allow that. _Well, too bad for him,_ she thought grimly. _If he must, he may name my son his heir, but he will know the truth, and so will she. I swear it. _


	2. Growing Up

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Growing Up

For a young pair of children, the Malfoy manor was quite a good place to grow up. With such a prestigious pureblood family, not to mention quite a few vaults at Gringotts, the twins had nearly all they could ask for. Toy racing brooms, pluffskeins, crups, and even a snidget in a matching golden cage decorated the nursery and bedrooms, and of course, all the best food, though their mother still forced them to eat nutritional food.

Of course, the playmates left a little to be desired. Vincent, Gregory, Millicent, and Pansy were the "proper playmates" for the twins, at least in their parents' eyes. What was it with adults, Ryua thought impatiently, that makes them name their children such bizarre things? At least me and Draco (Draco and I, her mother's voice echoed in her head) are named after dragons. Better than a stupid flower or an insane muggle painter.

And she hated them, all of them. Crabbe and Goyle, for their names were too complex for them to pronounce, were about as dense and stupid as a pair of rocks. The only thing they could do was follow orders, and the only orders they followed were her stuck-up brother's. Millicent and Pansy, one of whom Ryua was positive had troll blood and the other too ditzy to hold a conversation with, were the only girls she was allowed to see. Although how she was supposed to build a "proper etiquette and personality" hanging around with those useless girls, Ryua would never know. Once, Ryua had been poking around in the family library and found a magical family tree under a dusty shelf. She sat down in a corner and poked at it with her mother's spare wand to call up different branches. Sure enough, her name was there, written in gold script under a little picture of herself, connected to Draco, and her parents by a fine gold line. Most of the tree was made up of the usual, dark, sullen looking people, with a few darker squares. A second poke of her finger turned up the word "disowned" She noticed the most cheerful looking of her relatives resided in dark frames. Also, there were a whole group of people with brilliant red hair and freckles, all in dark the now familiar dark frames. There was even a boy her age and a girl just a bit younger, and they both looked to be actually interesting. Unfortunately, when she went to ask her father if she could invite them over for a visit, he didn't share her enthusiasm.

"Those people are disgraced wizards. They are not suitable for you to associate with." Lucius said, barely looking up from his letter.

"Well, why are they disgraced? What did they do?" Ryua asked, innocently.

"They are the type of wizard hardly better than mud...muggle-born wizards. They associate with lowlifes such as part human abominations and muggle- lovers. And instead of earning decent money like any other family, they are incapable of holding any kind wealth." Lucius was now sneering, obviously feeling superior.

"I don't get it. What's so bad with muggles? And what were you going to say, mud...?"

"Silence!" he snarled, "Muggles are an inferior race, too incompetent to handle magic, and therefore not worthy enough of our attention."

"But, these Weasleys, or whoever they are, they aren't muggles..."

"Did I not tell you to be silent? I will not say it again."

"But, what..."

"I said SILENCE! Obviously, you canNOT comprehend and follow simple instructions!" By now, even the young Ryua started to get a little of her high-born pride riled up. "You just said you wouldn't say 'silence' anymore!" Lucius was trembling with rage, his normally pale skin flushed a deep red. His voice, however, had a smooth, silky quality that somehow was more terrifying to Ryua that bellows, "I think you need to be taught to respect your elders. Chastisiae!"  
  
Ryua stumbled back up to her room, half blinded by tears. Her father's punishment spell had hurt really bad, and her back was stinging under her dress. Up in her room, she twisted around to see her back in the mirror, and whimpered. She had three welts crossing her back, not quite to the bleeding point, but more than enough to scare a child of six. Ryua took a few shuddering breaths and tried to compose herself. _Okay, okay, what would mommy do? Oh, it hurts..._ She made her way into her mother's dressing room and rummaged for her special kit in the bottom of the drawer. Sure enough, some muggle painkillers, magical no-infection gauze, and some other first aid-stuff. She grabbed the little bottle of Mrs. Hiver's cooler gel and went back to her room to find one of her summer tops and skirts. "Draco? Draco... I... need your help with something, please?" Ryua tentatively stepped into her twin's room, grasping the little bottle. Twist as she could, her back hurt to much to twist to reach it all, her mother was out to tea, as usual, and there was no way she would let her father touch her back.

"What is it?" came Draco's interested drawl. The two of them were always trying to best the other, and never showed weaknesses around each other.

Ryua swallowed. "Just... just put this on for me, will you?" she said quietly, turning around.

"Merlin's beard, Ryua, how...?"

"Never mind, Draco!" she snapped. "...I'm sorry, it just really stings." With unusual gentleness, Draco took the little bottle and started to apply the stuff on Ryua's back. "So, I guess you won't tell me, huh?"

Ryua sighed. "Well, I guess I owe you one, and I don't like that, so I'll tell you. I... it was Father. You know how stuffy and mean he is? Well, I guess I said one to many things, and he used some freaky hex on me... I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't you push him, Draco, I don't want even you to get stuff like that. I bet it's not his nastiest one, either."

He leaned over her shoulder, proffering the bottle. "You're really not making it up, are you? Well, I didn't think you could come up with a story that good anyway."

"Hah. Like you could do better. I mean it though, watch your step. If it's within your mental abilities of course."


	3. Sibling Rivalries

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Sibling Rivalries

The only time Draco and Ryua never fought was late nights, healing each other's welts and bruises. By age 11, they were quite adept at using their mother's self-replenishing first aid kit to doctor up minor injuries. Most of the spells induced mental pain, rarely leaving obvious marks, and Ryua was much more likely to be the one under the wand. Draco was the apple of his father's eye, but was hexed enough to cooperate with Ryua at night. This was the only time they got along, however.

"Draco!" Ryua's screech came from the left wing of the mansion, but could be heard reverberating all the way through the floorboards. "Where's my pluffskein? You'd better not be experimenting on him again!" Draco and Ryua had just celebrated their 11th birthdays that spring, and each had got a white longhair pluffskein as one of their presents. Draco's had gone missing earlier that week, and everyone pretended not to notice the soft white fur which kept appearing in unexpected places. Ryua, on the other hand, loved hers like any sensible girl of eleven would, unswervingly. Later in her life, she realized this to be an outlet for all the tender, gentle feelings that kept getting squashed in her less than loving family, but now she was just a young girl protecting her pet from an evil menace. "You give him back!" she shouted, leaping on her brother who was innocently reading one of his adventure novels.

"What?" Draco asked sweetly back, "I haven't taken anything from you."

"Ohh, don't you give me that, Draco. Now, where did you put Cotton? If you've done anything to him..."

"Get off of me! Father!" Draco yelled in his whiny tone, as Ryua started to dig her fingernails into his arms.

"Now, what is going on here?" Lucius' oily smooth voice spoke, "Ryua, you should not be abusing your brother like that. It's not befitting of a noble young lady."

_Oh, and it's fine for you, I suppose,_ "Father, he's doing something mean to Cotton." Ryua said.

"Cotton?"

"Yes, Father, my pluffskein."

"Oh," he said, "Ridiculous name. Draco?"

Draco straightened up, an innocently superior look on his face "Of course, Ryua, I've just been petting it. You know how much I miss mine. Those mean foxes must have gotten the poor thing. Here you go." Ryua snatched Cotton up and stormed out of the room. Ooh, she could just kill him sometimes. And with Father always playing favourites with Draco, she could never even get her own say in. Well, at least in two weeks she'd finally be going to Hogwarts. In fact, her mother was taking them shopping tomorrow. Ryua liked her mother better, even though she was always absent. Actually, because she was always absent. Narcissa could stay being the ideal mother figure, and would never have enough chance to prove it wrong.


	4. Diagon Alley

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Diagon Alley

Ryua was almost vibrating as they stepped to the special floo fireplace their family connected directly to private rooms at all of the important locations of the wizarding world. Her Father would never be seen with soot on his face, or hair disheveled, so each room was completely private and contained a full toilet, complete with every sort of grooming spell available. "Your turn, Ryua," Narcissa said, proffering the jar to the excited girl. Draco had just disappeared in a flash of green fire, and though they had both been through to other wizards' houses a number of times, this was the first time either had gone to a 'commoner' place like Diagon Alley.

Ryua grabbed a handful of the grey powder and threw it on the hearth. "Diagon Alley!" she said clearly, and stepped forward. Thanks to the family's wealth, the Malfoy private network was a much calmer ride than those experienced by most witches and wizards on their way to such a busy place. She stepped out of the fireplace at the proper grate, and found herself in a small but rich room, with a full length mirror on the left wall. Ryua was about to defiantly walk out, hair slightly ruffled from the trip, but then felt her mother's hand on her shoulder. Ryua sighed, and turned back to tuck her hair back in its elegant, uncomfortable little bun her mother insisted on.

Two minutes later, Ryua had seen more people than in her entire eleven years on the earth. And so many different types! She saw some skin that was as dark as her favourite dark chocolate truffles, and some as pale as hers, and even some with freckles, like the disgraced Weasleys in her family tree. Her family all had pale blond hair, and even her mother's slightly darker gold was nearly white in comparison to the shades of reds, browns, blacks, golds, and even one lime green. There were tall people, and short, and thin, and huge, and everything in between, dressed in robes that made Ryua either jealous or appalled. While her robes were undoubtedly a better quality than most she saw, and could not even be classed in the same category as others, her parents restricted her colors to black, with accents of green and silver.

On her way into the back of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, she stared hungrily at rich reds, blues, purples, yellows, and colors which seemed undecided in hue. Her school list, however, said black, so black was what her parents would buy. She vowed to come back someday, however, and completely blow her Father's account on brightly colored clothes. While a pleasant witch took her behind a curtain to fit her robes, she heard someone else come in. She peeked around the edge and saw her stuck-up brother talking all superiorly to a slight, nervous looking boy with messy black hair and a pair of broken glasses over shocking green eyes. She turned back to let the saleswitch measure her arms, and then suddenly looked out again.

Sure enough, there was a scar, a thin lightning bolt almost hidden by a lock of hair on the boy's forehead. This is Harry Potter? That scared kid? The one Father is always blaming his non-existent troubles on? He doesn't seem like much of a villain to me. Well, I guess we'll see. The saleswitch finally finished with Ryua's measurements, and asked "Anything else, dear?"

Ryua was about to say no, when she had a sudden evil thought, like she was supposed to. "Er, I don't suppose I could get something in color, too? My father would flip if he saw me in it, but I don't much care..."

"Of course," the witch said conspiratorially, "Of course, I could never sell clothing to a child against parent's direct orders, but did they say anything about pyjamas?" At these words, Ryua forgot all about talking to this mysterious Harry Potter and shook her head gleefully.

Ten minutes later, she strode out of the shop, her bags of school robes under her arm. "Well, it's about time," Draco drawled, "What kept you?" "A lady is allowed to take her time, brother dearest," Ryua said, smiling sweetly at her twin.

"Indeed she is, Draco, and you would do well to show a bit more courtesy to any girl, even your sister." Narcissa said with just a ghost of a smile. "Now, let's go for wands." Draco took all of twenty seconds to find his wand, black ebony with Sweedish Longhorn dragon heartstring (perfect for curses). He was in for a long wait, however, as Ryua was still trying after about ten minutes. "Well, you are being a contrary one, aren't you? Never mind, we'll find you your wand, now... here, try this one. Pine and unicorn hair, 11 inches," Mr. Ollivander murmured, proffering yet another wand.

Ryua sighed, taking yet another wand she knew to be a failure. Sure enough, it was cool in her hand, and didn't even glow when she waved it. The crazy old man just kept giving her these flexible, soft, feminine wands good for charms, and with cores of unicorn hair to boot. The only wand she had liked at all was one similar to her brother's, with a core of dragon heartstring, and Ollivander had snatched it away, even though it made a half-hearted sputter of sparks. "Mr. Olivander, if you would..."

"Well, I suppose we could try it, at least. Here. Dragon heartstring, cherry, 12 ½ inches..." Did this freaky guy just read my mind? Oh, well this wand was at least more her line. It still only glowed palely at the tip, though, and it was snatched immediately. Norwegian Ridgeback with willow (good for charms again!) was a complete dud, and so were about a dozen others. "Oh, fine then, be that way. Here. Excellent for your curses and counter-jinxes in Defense class. Peruvian Vipertooth. 13 inches of maple. A stubborn wand." Now this was more like it. A shower of silver and gold sparkles cascaded to the floor as she waved it. "Of course, of course, I shouldn't even bother... That will be 15 galleons, thank you..." Mr. Ollivander hustled Ryua and the now very bored Draco out the door, who walked over to the perfume shop their mother was at. "A pity. I so hoped she would be different. It's going to be a dangerous place for a dark witch in times to come. May she choose a better path than her family."


	5. The Night Before

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Night Before Hogwarts

Both the Malfoy twins were vibrating. Their first day of their first year at Hogwarts was starting tomorrow, and their mother had told them to get a good night's sleep. Narcissa realized, of course, that neither one was at all likely to stay in their beds, but decided to allow them their one night of excited chatter. Sure enough, a shadow slipped into Draco's room fifteen minutes after they were sent to bed. The shadow shimmered, and Ryua stood there, poking the last of the declawed lethifold into a jar (although lethifolds are normally fatal when they touch you, the twins found this in one of their Father's secret stashes, made harmless by removing it's claws). "So, Hogwarts, eh? Can you believe it? We're finally getting away from here!" Ryua whispered excitedly.

"It should be interesting, I suppose," Draco said, attempting (and failing) to act calm about the whole thing. His eyes glittered as he said, "Who d'you think we'll get for teachers? I mean, I know about Severus Snape already, and Dumbledore of course, but, what about the rest of them? You know, Transfiguration, and Charms, and all that."

"Well, back in Father's day, Dumbledore taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and some harsh professor named McGonnagal taught Transfiguration, but that's probably changed now. I mean, that was ages ago." Ryua replied thoughtfully.

"At least the food should be good"

"What are you complaining about? We have cooks, maids, two manservents, and a gaggle of house elves. What exactly don't you enjoy?"

Draco snorted. "Oh, come on, doesn't the thought of Dobby touching your food revolt you? He's so disgusting."

"Come off of it. There's house elves at Hogwarts too, you know..."

"Eww, really? I'll have to get mother to send me food. At least the sweets and things. She wouldn't want me to get house-elf-indigestion, would she?" Draco grinned wickedly.

Ryua grinned back. "Sometimes, you are so... so... evil! You know there's filter spells in place. It's mostly illusion dirt anyways, to try and coax compassion. Not that you have any." Actually, she could never tell why her Father and brother were always so cruel to the house elves. Just because they weren't human and enjoyed slavery didn't mean they had no feelings.

"Ah, it's too much work. They obey anyways, so why bother coddling them? Not that it matters, Hogwarts elves have no contact with the students, it's part of their contract or something." Draco got his mischievous look again, "So, we'll finally get to meet other people. I doubt many of them will be worth the effort, but I suppose we might find one or two half-decent wizards there."

"Oh, please. What have you got to complain about? You're the 'pride of the family', or whatever Father's always talking about. You get to talk with all sorts of people." Ryua said with a snort, "I, on the other hand, have to act all noble and ladylike all the time. For some reason, Father thinks I'll disgrace myself if I'm seen in public. Don't know why. He should be more worried about you."

"Well, for whatever reason, Father thinks that I am a charming, talented wizard, while you are a socially inept witch," Draco scoffed.

"Watch it Draco," Ryua warned with a sweetly dangerous face, "You don't want to go insulting the firstborn child, now do you, little brother."

"I'd say you should watch it Ryua. Just because you were born 30 seconds earlier doesn't mean anything. I'm the heir, and Father says so. It doesn't matter what you and mother think." Unfortunately, and unfairly, this was true in the Malfoy house. Too tied up in ancient bloodlines, Lucius had refused to advance with the freethinking times, and was very much lord of the manor. Narcissa was too petrified to stand up to her tyrannical husband, and although Ryua remembered every curse she heard, she had no idea how to use them. Not to mention that she was likely to get disowned and cast out of the house if she stood up to Father. Her mother was quietly supportive of her, however, and had often explained things to her, including why Draco was the public firstborn, and why Lucius wanted it that way.

"You are the absolute most, you know that?" Ryua snapped, "When we get to school, you had better watch your step. Once I learn some spells, it would be so tragic for you to get hit by an accidental curse. And Draco," she said in an even lower whisper, "don't push me. The people at Hogwarts are supposed to be very open-minded. Imagine Dumbledore's reaction if a rumor reached him that Draco Malfoy wasn't the true heir."

Actually, she doubted much would happen, but the thought of what Father would say if his family honor was tarnished by such a rumor was sufficient to shut Draco's mouth, eyes flashing furiously. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, yes I would, dear little brother. So watch your step." Later in her room, Ryua regretted having to manipulate her brother like that. Granted, he deserved cutting down to size, but all the books she read had siblings who supported and cared for each other, regardless of anything else. It seemed so wrong, that she should have so much, and yet be unable to form a decent bond with even the one she should be closest to.


	6. Hogwarts Express

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Platform 9 ¾  
  
Ryua flew out of the fireplace into the Platform 9 ¾ private room. The luggage-wizards had already taken her and Draco's trunks and owls (hers was a burrowing owl, much more sensible than Draco's giant eagle owl) off to the train, so the room was empty. She smoothed her elegantly upswept hair, twitched her robes into place, and strode out with her head high. The Hogwarts Express was gleaming in the midday sun, red paint making a perfect background for the black-robed students. Ryua breathed deeply, feeling excited and happy for the first time she could remember. Draco caught up with her, and shattered the mood by saying, "Come on, there'll be no decent seats left."

On the train, they quickly secured their own compartment, only having to share with Crabbe and Goyle, who promptly sat in the front two seats and didn't move again except to get sweets from the witch's trolley. Ryua pulled the silver hair-pin her mother insisted on and shook her silver- blond hair out. "I will never put my hair up like that of my own will again!" she said with a sigh. Draco looked over and snorted. "Oh, come on. All you have to do is slick it back. Try pulling it up and sticking a metal skewer down the back of your neck." Ryua bought a pack of Bertie Botts from the sweet trolley and settled down to enjoy the ride.

It wasn't long, however, before she heard a snicker and a low groaning croak from her brother's end of the compartment. Ryua knew that laugh. It was the same snicker she heard when Draco was torturing Cotton or about to play some nasty joke on Ryua. She whirled around and caught her brother poking a rather miserable looking toad with his wand. "Put it down," she said in a low, cool voice.

"Why? It's just some toad. It was wandering the corridor, and I thought I should... welcome it."

Ryua was starting to get a little miffed. "I said let it go, Draco."

"Why, going to make me? You couldn't."

Now she was mad. Ryua pulled her wand out of her robes and commanded "Let it go, Draco, I won't say it again."

Draco looked slightly worried for a second or two, and then his normal arrogant sneer came back. "Oh, come off of it. You couldn't use any curses yet, even if you knew them."

"Rictoshempra!" Ryua snapped. Draco doubled over in a fit of furious giggles. "Now, come on little fellow. This isn't a good place for you to be. Go find your human." Ryua opened the door and slipped the much distressed toad into the next compartment. She settled back into her window seat and opened her every-flavor beans, barely noticing Crabbe and Goyle uselessly trying to help up the wheezing Draco.


	7. Hogwarts and Sorting

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Hogwarts and the Sorting

Ryua smoothly walked off of the train and looked around. The sun had just finished setting, and the sky was a soft velvet blue. The still lake reflected the crystal stars and the turrets of Hogwarts glowed a warm gold. A bellow came from the beach "Firs' years, over here! Alright there, Harry?" She turned towards the voice, and saw a huge man beckoning them towards a fleet of boats. Deep down, Ryua wished someone would ask if she were alright, but then buried it under a thick layer of self-independence. She knew she could take care of herself.

They all loaded into boats, Ryua stubbornly sitting with a pair of twin girls who introduced themselves as Padma and Parvati Patil rather than her useless brother who was still attempting to look dignified even with the occasional hiccupping giggle. They glided out across the lake, and under an ivy draped cave onto a beach with a winding stair. At the top, they came out into the Hogwarts entrance hall, where they were intercepted by a stern looking witch who directed them into a smaller room. She gave them a speech about the four houses, which was distressingly vague. She already knew about Slytherin, of course, but her family always talked about the other three with disdain, loathing Gryffindor, looking down on Hufflepuff, and ignoring Ravenclaw. She was cautious, and wanted to know what kind of a house she would end up in.

When they all filed into the Great Hall, after a slight interruption by the school ghosts, Ryua saw the four house tables and the head table all filled with staring eyes. Luckily, when the hat started to sing, she got some of her answers. So, the chivalrous and brave at heart go to Gryffindor, she thought, and loyal hard workers to Hufflepuff, intellectuals to Ravenclaw, and ruthless, cunning people to Slytherin. She was optimistic when the hat said, "You're in safe hands..." hoping for a true, honest impartial judge for the first time in her life. Maybe she could finally start living her own destiny...

"Abbott, Hannah!" The sorting had started. Ryua looked coolly on the proceedings, although her heart was vibrating with a hope and excitement she couldn't remember often having. This was her chance, her first chance to live her own life, to be judged for the things she had to keep hidden from the world in order to survive her family, and maybe get a measure of freedom from her father's harsh rule.

"Malfoy, Draco!" How had so many of them passed already? Sure enough, her brother swaggered up from the half as large line of first years, and was sorted Slytherin the moment the hat touched his sleek blond head. "Malfoy, Ryua!" Ryua stepped forward, trying not to let her trembling hands show. She sat perfectly upright on the stool, as her mother was always trying to get her to do, and the hat was lowered to her head. Just one more second, and she could be free from her family's tight rule... "Slytherin!" the hat screamed. _What?_ Ryua thought furiously, _You never even looked at my mind, how can you know where I belong..._ but it was too late. The hat was lifted up, and she had no choice but to sweep off to her new table. _Curse this useless Dark Pureblood! It's not fair! I don't want to be in Slytherin, it didn't even give me a chance once it saw my bloodlines. Oh,_ (she said something that would have earned her a spectacular set of welts for 'unladylike behavior' at home) _I don't want to be judged by my ancestry._ Ryua sat at one end of the table, barely noticing Potter sorted into Gryffindor or the headmaster's speech after 'Blaise, Zabini' became the newest Slytherin. She mechanically ate some Yorkshire pudding and a small piece of chicken, all the while in a stupor, not even acknowledging some Slytherin prefect across from her. She took one strawberry from the dessert spread, vaguely storing Dumbledore's speech in the back of her mind for later, but paid attention to the school song, noting how much more cheery the other houses were in their renditions.

They were released from the feast, and the Slytherins descended a few staircases when she heard the prefect say "Darklight" to a blank section of wall. A door swung outward to reveal a low, dark room lit by chain-suspended green lights and a large fireplace. Ryua quietly followed Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson to the girls' dorms and sat numbly on her bed. Luckily, the other two took her aloofness as a superior's wish not to be disturbed and so did not talk to her. Ryua drew her dark green curtains about her black quilted bed, and fumbled into her pajamas she secretly bought at Madam Malkin's two weeks ago.

Even in the near darkness, she could see their bright red color, and a lump caught in her throat. She had so hoped to be free of her family's restrictions, and now was tied into Slytherin, and all hope of being free to wear bright colors and flamboyant emotions was squashed. For the first time in five years, a tear gathered at the corner of Ryua's ice-blue eyes and trickled down her cheek. She sat there in the dark, silently weeping for her lost chance at freedom.


	8. The First Week

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
The First Week

Ryua woke up the first day of term curled up on her bed, tired, stiff, but resigned. Apparently, her dorm mates were the type to sleep in as long as possible, so Ryua got their lavatory to herself. She scrubbed her face to get rid of the tracks her tears had left last night, and combed her tangled hair back into its normal silvery cascade. One thing living with her family had taught Ryua, she was very good at taking a terrible lot and living with it. She was quite good at repressing things like regret and pain, and was likely to add hope to the list now. Showing emotions like that on your sleeve just got you hurt. If you look weak, people hurt you. If you hope for things, people hurt you. If you can't keep up with the present, people hurt you. It was better to act as haughty and proud as her mother was always urging. No one interfered with someone in control.

She strode back into her dorm room, snapping "Wake up! We've got classes today, dears." While the other two were in the lavatory, Ryua had the dorm to herself, so she took her time adjusting her robes and strode out of the girls' dorm corridor before the others were even fully dressed.

More in control of her senses this morning, Ryua surveyed her common room. It was just as dark as last night, it being in the dungeons and therefore lit only by the green lights and fireplace. She saw several low tables made of some dark, polished wood, and carved chairs made of the same material. I'll have to find a cushioning charm for those, she thought to herself. Even dark and forbidding as it was, it was luxurious, like the den of a deadly snake. The thought gave her a small sense of comfort. She liked snakes, their beautiful coils, intricate colors and scales, and incredible strength and sleekness all combining into a masterpiece of a magnificent creature. At least the symbol of her house was a snake. There had to be something good about being in Slytherin. Well, she'd just have to concentrate on doing honor to such a noble creature.

Up in the Great Hall, Ryua soaked up some welcome sunlight. The bewitched ceiling was reflecting the beautiful morning sky, all azure blue with wisps of white clouds and the glowing orb of the sun, magically dimmed so you could look at it. As more students filed in from their common rooms, the breakfast appeared on the table. Ryua had much more of an appetite today, and put away far more food than her mother would have deemed 'ladylike'. Well too bad. Ryua wanted to eat, so eat she did.

They went to their first class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Five minutes in, Ryua concluded she had never seen a more pathetic excuse for a wizard, including the round-faced toad-less boy who somehow had ended up in Gryffindor. Ryua reviewed the events of last night now, instead of listening to the stuttering Quirrell. Making a note to avoid the third floor corridor, she forced her attention to her teacher, who had so far said nothing useful. Luckily, the bell rang, and she swept out of the room.

Transfiguration was more interesting at least. Professor McGonnagal was strict, but Ryua could also see a smart mind who was willing to teach behind the square spectacles. By the end of class, she had a solid metal stick, the only one to come even close to transfiguring a match to a needle, and earned three points for Slytherin and a half smile from McGonnagal.

Herbology was also interesting, and even though Professor Sprout was a rather common looking witch, she knew an incredible amount about plants.

Charms was taught by a bizarre little wizard named Flitwick, who Ryua supposed would be all right, if he could actually be seen above his desk.

The first four days were much the same, two classes in the morning, two after lunch, free time for homework in the evenings. On Friday, however, Slytherin was scheduled for double Potions with Gryffindor, and a free afternoon. Now, this was her element. Ryua was fairly competent in her classes so far, but none really interested her. The moment she walked into the potions classroom in the dungeons, however, she felt the first stirrings of excitement. The Gryffindors all huddled together on one half of the room, looking absolutely terrified. Ryua mentally snorted. What were they scared of? Ah, right, this was their first time in the dungeons. When Professor Snape entered, every student fell silent as he picked up the register. He paused at Potter's name, and sneeringly asked him some advanced potions questions. When, understandably unable to answer, he suggested Snape should ask Hermione Granger, the irate professor took a point from Gryffindor and proceeded to lecture the class. Even the lectures and assigned textbook readings fascinated Ryua, although she wondered why Professor Snape seemed to detest Potter so much. Actually, her brother did too, and most of the Slytherin house followed him. Oh well.

All in all, Ryua thought as she poured over her One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions in the common room, Hogwarts wasn't turning out so bad. Although she wouldn't mind some company. The Patil twins had got themselves assigned to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and she was stuck with Pansy and Millicent for company. One was an absolute airhead, and the other looked (and acted) like an unfortunate accident between a wizard and a troll. Maybe she needed a pet. After Draco finally managed to explode Cotton the pluffskein two months ago, Ryua had suddenly run out of living creatures to talk to. She closed her books and left for the school library to see if Madame Pince had a pet catalogue


	9. Quidditch and Duels

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Quiddtich and Duels  
  
"Hah!" Draco's sneering voice rang through the common room. "Flying lessons start on Thursday. Not that I need them, of course. I bet those pathetic Gryffindors will, though." Ryua looked up, interested for once by her brother's sneering comments. She loved quidditch, had loved it since she and Draco had stolen one of their Father's brooms years ago. Of course, they'd paid dearly for it later, but she could still feel the rushing feeling of the air in her hair, and the immense feeling of freedom from all the things she 'must do in order to be ladylike".

Thursday dawned clear and calm, perfect for flying lessons. After classes which crawled by even slower than usual, the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years assembled on the Hogwarts grounds. Madam Hooch, a sharp looking woman with short grey hair and incredible yellow eyes directed them to their places. "Stick out your right hand over your broom and say Up!" "UP!" the students cried. Ryua's broom leapt straight up to rest in her fingers obediently, although few did. Draco's took a second shout to rise up, although that Potter boy's jumped up (he looked rather surprised) at his command.

Ryua allowed herself a rare smirk at her brother being corrected harshly by Hooch, and mounted her broom properly, earning an approving nod. Unfortunately, before they were allowed to actually fly, that Gryffindor who kept losing his toad managed to break his wrist, and was escorted to the hospital wing by a surprisingly gentle Madam Hooch. Of course, Draco started trouble the moment they were out of earshot. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" Apparently, Draco had forgotten wetting himself the first time he kicked off the ground.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped one of the Patil twins, Parvati she thought.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" shrieked Parkinson, "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati." Pansy also seemed to be suffering from amnesia, forgetting that time Draco burst a wizard cracker behind her and she let out wails to rival a banshee.

"Give that here, Malfoy" came a cool voice. Ryua turned with interest to see Potter holding out his hand for the Remembrall Draco was gloating over. An odd person to be a peacemaker, but she'd watch anyways.

Of course, Draco flew off above the trees, taunting "Come and get it, Potter!" down to the watching crowd. Surprisingly enough, Potter grabbed his broom and flew up after him. Wasn't he raised by Muggles? Ryua thought, Where did he learn to fly like that? Sure enough, Potter matched Draco move for move, so the little coward threw the ball away and streaked back down to the ground.

"My, aren't we brave?" Ryua asked sweetly. Draco didn't reply. Potter had just caught the trinket a foot off the ground and Professor McGonnagal was storming towards them. She marched him away, leaving the rest to wait for Madam Hooch, who came back a few minutes later. Finally. They were allowed to fly twenty feet up only, but Ryua was able to fly loops around her brother whose bruised confidence weakened his already sad skills.

Back in the common room, the twins were in opposite moods. Ryua was feeling relaxed and happy for the first time in ages, but Draco was fuming. He came up with the brilliant idea to try and get Potter expelled, or in detention at the very least. "Draco, it won't work. They won't expel a first year for being out of bed. You're just feeling inferior. I don't see why that should be a problem, as it's your natural state of being." Draco just glared at her and went up for supper

After the meal, however, Draco sauntered over to the Gryffindor end, flanked by his two bodyguards. Potter seemed to be holding his own, especially with some Weasly or other backing him up. When her twin turned back to his own end, however, he wore a most unsettling smirk. "What did you do, Draco?" Ryua asked in a low, dangerous tone.

"Potty and the Weasel will be taking a midnight stroll tonight. I do hope they're careful. Wouldn't it just be awful if Filch caught them?" Draco looked positively gleeful at the thought. Obviously, he thought himself very clever.

"What did you tell them?"

"I challenged him to a wizards' duel, of course."

"You?" Ryua snorted derisively, "You couldn't curse your way out of a paper bag."

"Well, I'm not going, of course," Draco said slowly, as if talking to a three year old.

"So, you not only are a coward and a bad flyer, you don't even have a sense of honor? I really am ashamed to be your twin." Ryua stated disgustedly.

"... It doesn't really matter, anyways, I mean, it's not like we could do anything to each other, so it wouldn't exactly be a wizards' duel if I did go." Draco stalked off to the dungeons, probably to tip Filch off.  
  
Draco was very incensed when the next morning, when Potter and Weasly showed up looking perfectly cheerful, if a little sleepy. _It's what he gets, the little rat. There are some rules that shouldn't be broken. The family honor might be twisted, but it's still there._ Ryua thought grimly.


	10. A Fight

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
A Fight  
  
Although the Slytherin team wasn't playing, Ryua still watched the match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor with great interest. When she noticed that Longbottom boy suddenly turn around and stutter a retort back at her brother, she did look down with interest for a few seconds, always happy to see him taken down a notch. Of course, Weasly jumped in to defend the poor kid, and Draco and his cronies moved right in for a fight. Getting bored, Ryua simply stepped forward onto the Gryffindor bench, finding Granger's "Come on, Harry!" much less irritating than the flying fists behind her. She was pleasantly surprised when later Draco had to go to the hospital wing to get his black eye fixed. Not many people would do that to her brother. Her opinion of Ronald Weasly and Neville Longbottom went up a few notches. 


	11. December

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
December  
  
Ryua woke up cold. Although she might hate the company at home, at least it was never this cold there. _Who decided the dungeons were a good place to make students sleep?_ she thought bitterly. Hufflepuff had a lovely sunroom on the first floor near the greenhouses, and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were in towers, all dry and easily heated. There were spells in place to keep out the damp, but Ryua was constantly finding drippy spots or patches of moss where the spell had degraded. And regardless of the roaring fire in the common room, the dormitories were still cold, lately with lines of frost appearing on the walls. Ryua gritted her teeth and sat up, the extra blankets the house elves kept bringing down slipping into her lap. She sprang out of her bed, feet only touching the floor three times on the way to the lavatory. The mat in beside the shower provided some protection from the piercing cold stones while she turned on the hot water full blast. By the time she was clean, she could feel her toes again, and the stones felt much warmer underfoot.

While she was getting into her warm winter robes, Ryua thought about the last quidditch match. The Slytherin team appeared to have one style: ruthless. That 6th year Marcus Flint had no guilt about trying to take out Potter. And wow, could that boy fly, even on a jinxed broom. Ryua had paid close attention to the first quidditch match of the season, and realized just how pathetic her team really was, only having an advantage because most of the families were rich, so they all had decent brooms, and most of them were also quite willing to risk fouling to score. Terrence Higgs was a fairly decent player, but obviously no match for Potter, and would be graduating this year anyways, and the keeper Bletchley was at best clumsy. Although her father wasn't likely to allow it, Ryua planned to try out for the team in her second year, and already knew she could fly circles around any of them if they would let a girl on the pitch.

By the time Pansy and Millicent were stirring, Ryua was on her way out to the common room. She and her brother would be leaving tonight for Christmas holidays, and she wanted to enjoy her last day in Hogwarts. She remembered McGonnagal's list of students who would stay at Hogwarts over the holiday, and was starting to wish she had signed up. She was likely to have more fun with those silly Gryffindors than her family. Well, at least the breakfast was good. Apparently, Dumbledore wanted to give them a cheesy 'farewell feast', and for the first time, Ryua appreciated the gesture. Classes flew by, even potions failing to interest her as usual. She actually dropped three extra echnida quills into her potion, and was humiliatingly rescued by her stuck-up brother. ("Oh, I'm sorry sir, she just must be excited about holidays..." Draco had said, sickeningly sweet. Luckily, Professor Snape liked them both, and barely acknowledged the mistake).

All too soon, the train had pulled into the Hogwarts station, and the students loaded back into the horseless carrages. The train ride back to Platform 9 3/4 was a dark blur, and all to soon, they had to get off. Ryua looked glumly around at all the happy students, the Patil twins giggling by one trolley, Hermione Granger ecstatically hugging a pair of muggles, obviously her parents. She looked over to where her parents were standing, looking aloof and proper, and utterly dull. At least people at Hogwarts were warm and feeling, even if it wasn't directed at her. She and Draco walked over to them, and together went to the floo chamber. Ryua woke up Christmas morning. Her room looked beautiful, perfectly decorated, and very impersonal. She got into the dark green houserobe her parents insisted on, and went down into an equally perfectly decorated familiy room. After a very perfect gift giving ceremony, they went upstairs to get dressed in their Christmas company clothes, for they were expecting the Crabbes, Goyles, and Parkinsons over for a perfect Christmas feast. Ryua changed into her perfect green dress with white fur trim, (maybe that's where Cotton went... oh ugh, don't think that!) and put on the perfect silver locket her parents gave her with its perfect little pictures of their perfect little family and sighed. It was all so dull. They all bought each other presents, and gave each other polite little Christmas pecks on the cheek, and had their closest (gag, yuck) friends over for a beautiful feast, but only because they were supposed to. The Daily Prophet often did a column on the perfect Christmas families, and Lucius and Narcissa had deemed it necessary to feature in the article at top of the list. Otherwise, Ryua thought, they would probably leave us at Hogwarts all year long. Well, me at least, they actually seem to like Draco. And for some reason, he actually likes these ridiculous family rituals. Or at least the ridiculous family. Ryua immediately stifled that thought. If she thought it too loud, there was a very slight chance her Father would hear it somehow, and she wanted to get back to school unscathed.

On her way down to the dining room, however, she was sidetracked by Dobby. The wide-eyed little creature whispered, "Merry Christmas, miss!" Ryua smiled for the first time in a long time.

"And to you, Dobby." She then turned her back on the one feeling creature in the house and went down to prepare for the guests.


	12. Back To School

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Back to School  
  
Ryua was ecstatic. School was starting up tomorrow, and she and Draco were already being loaded up onto the train. Even though she was stuck with the wonder dummies Crabbe and Goyle laughing at every dumb joke Draco made, the ride back was wonderful. School, of course, was just the same as ever, although Slytherin was preparing for their match against Ravenclaw. This of course had nothing to do with Ryua yet, but it got the Slytherin prefects out of the common room (anyone with enough ambition and skill to be a prefect was on the team) so she could study properly.

And then one day, her brother came down and pulled Magical Drafts and Potions right out of her hands. "Guess what?" he said with a nasty grin.

Ryua sighed and replied, "You've decided to actually study? You'll have to get your own book, I'm using mine."

"No, you nitwit," Draco replied scathingly, "That oaf Hagrid? He's got himself a dragon."

Ryua stared back, trying to decide if he was trying to pull a really bad joke. "You can't be serious. A dragon? Where would he get it? And for that matter, what were you doing at the gamekeeper's hut anyways?"

"I followed Potty and The Weasel after Herbology. They were trying to sneak off, and what do you know? There was a dragon egg hatching on the table." Draco looked very smug. "They might have seen me, but I was gone before they could do anything about it. And they can't go to anyone about it, I mean, it's an illegal dragon."

Unfortunately, Ryua had an idea of where this was going. "You're going to try and get them in trouble aren't you? You know, you could just leave well enough alone. It'll be too big to hide soon, or they'll get rid of it somehow."

"Trying to defend the scum of the earth, now are we? Why do you care?" It was pointless to continue. Even in a less dangerous topic, Draco was an impossible conversationalist. Ryua pointedly took her book back and resumed reading.

A week or so later, Ryua felt a peculiar sense of restlessness. She figured it had to be Draco getting up to do something, as she could sometimes feel his actions and emotions. She slipped out of bed and pulled her declawed lethifold out of the bottom of her trunk. Sure enough, five minutes later, Ryua cloaked in a black shadow saw her brother sneaking out of the common room. Following him silently they winded up towards the astrology tower. Unfortunately for Draco, he was not wearing any camouflage, and walked right into Professor McGonnagal. "Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin..." her clear stern voice rang out, drowning out Draco's protests. And off they went.

Ryua was ready to head back to the dungeons when she caught movement down a corridor. She ducked quickly into the shadow behind a suit of armor, just in time to avoid Filch, who looked around like he had heard something. Ryua held her breath, but just as he was about to shine his lantern, thereby making Ryua stand out as a black shadow, there were footsteps on the stairs. Sure enough, Potter and Granger came down the stairs (Now how did they get up there without me noticing?) "Well, well, well, we are in trouble." came his oily voice.

After he marched them off, Ryua walked up the tower. Sure enough, at the top of the stairs, there lay a pool of silvery cloth. A real invisibility cloak, harder to detect than her lethifold, and Draco knew nothing about it... no. She shouldn't keep it. Although unwittingly, Potter had saved her from detention, and the cloak looked well worn. It must have come from his parents, likely the only memento he had. Ryua couldn't resist putting it on for the trip down to the dungeons, however.

Three days later, Ryua made a side detour to the kitchens on her lunch hour. She pulled a house elf over, and told it to deliver the folded cloak to Harry Potter's bed in the Gryffindor dorms. It had taken her this long to find enough private time to write a simple note, attach it to the cloak, and get it out of the common room without anyone noticing it. She hoped the words "Just in case" wouldn't be enough to identify her script. That would just be too embarrassing.


	13. End of Term

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
End of Term  
  
Draco came back gibbering from his night of detention blabbering on about dead unicorns and caped monsters. That did at least perk up Ryua's interest, or at least gave her a sense of foreboding. She had her own suspicions about what was under that cloak. Unlike her brother, she studied, and knew what unicorn's blood was used for, and its consequences. She could only think of one being who would go that far for life, and the thought of the Dark Lord roaming Hogwarts was a disturbing one.

So, she ignored it. With revision for exams, and teachers piling on homework, she had plenty to keep her busy. Once exams actually started, however, she had very little difficulty coping, leaving her plenty of time to watch or laugh at her fellow students. She got top marks in potions, and although her charms fell a little short of the same standard, she managed much better marks than her brother.

It was a beautiful day when they finished their last exam, and Ryua went out to relax a bit in the sun. After an hour or so of watching the students and idly transforming little pebbles into buttons and things, she saw Dumbledore come striding in a great hurry up the Hogwarts road, a look of worry on his face Ryua had never seen on anyone, let alone such a cheerful man. She later found out that Potter, Weasly, and Granger had managed to break through the strongest guards the teachers could put up, found the Philosopher's stone, and managed to defeat Lord Voldemort and still come out in one piece. Well sort of. Harry Potter was still unconscious in the hospital wing, having been the one to confront the Dark Lord. Ryua didn't tell anyone, but she sent up a small box of chocolate rosebuds (which tasted good but you had to watch out for the thorns) to join the massive pile. From what she heard, Voldemort was quite similar in personality to her father, and whoever caused pain to someone like that was to be congratulated.

Although she had to act disappointed, Ryua was really more amused at the look on her neighbors' faces than angry when Gryffindor was awarded the house cup at the last minute. A pity that last quidditch match had to be played without a competent Gryffindor seeker. Slytherin had won the house cup by default, since Gryffindor was so deprived of their last bundle of points. Ah, well, next year they would really earn it... And so, her first year ended. Their parents were waiting at the platform, looking as regal and stuck-up as ever, but Ryua didn't mind too much. She would just lock herself in her room, doing all that extra homework her teachers had so nicely assigned her.


	14. BOOK TWO: Sigh Summer Vacation

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Author's Note: Sorry my alter-life is so miserable. Lucius and Narcissa, and Draco, too, aren't exactly easy to get along with, and my being first born is a thorn in their side. My life should, however, get a lot better once I grow up a little, and start to meet people with some actual decent human emotion. Oh, and I'm trying to stay true to the books, not necessarily the movies, but there will be obvious changes, of course. So hang in there, it'll get better as I get older  
  
Sigh Summer Holidays  
  
(_Draco, Hogwarts Express, End of Term_) I spent the entire trip back trying franticly to perform this little charm I found in a library book. You see, those biased teachers with their favourite students failed to give me exceptional marks. Luckily for me, one of those favourites was my sister, Ryua. She just stared mournfully out the window at the scenery, while I worked to switch her first name for mine. We were all in the same classes, so our report cards were identical except for the first names, and of course, marks. With luck, I would shortly have Exceeds Expectations and Outstandings all over my report card, while Ryua would end up with my slightly lower marks.

(_Ryua, Private Family Room, Malfoy Manor, Summer Holidays)_ Draco and Ryua stood across the round walnut and silver table from their parents sitting on comfortable chairs. Lucius Malfoy scanned first Draco's, then Ryua's report cards, face impassive as he passed them to Narcissa. He rose, and beckoned for Ryua to follow him out of the room. For once, Ryua did so without worry, because she knew her marks were excellent, and even her Charms was above average. "Ryua, I'm disappointed in you," her father's voice came, deadly calm. Ryua did a double take. "You may not think it vital for you to get decent marks, hoping for us to continue to support you for the rest of your life." She could still not make heads or tails of what he was talking about. Professors Snape and McGonnagal had both given her special commendations for her good marks, and only Charms had gone below an EE. "Your Potions mark was the only even remotely acceptable mark you managed to attain. Apparently you must be taught discipline for your studies." Ryua had just opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about when the first jinx hit her. She doubled over, thoughts spinning wildly around her head. _Potions the only acceptable mark?_ She knew Transfiguration had finished almost that good, and Defense Against the Dark Arts too. "...Your Charms mark leaves much to be desired..." her Father's voice filtered through, only to be obliterated by a fresh wave of pain from a new curse. Well Charms was only Above Average, but still... "...just because... head of Gryffindor... still be able to excel..." That cut through her aching head. Ryua knew she had done quite well in Professor McGonnagal's class, her being in Slytherin hadn't made a difference to the strict Gryffindor head. The list went on and on, until finally her Father's wand lifted for the final time, and Ryua was allowed to stumble out. She dragged herself unsteadily through the cooridors and up a flight of stairs to her room, mind slowly processing what had just occurred. Her Father had listed her marks as follows; Potions: Above average, Charms: Below Average, Transfiguration: Average, DADA: Average, Astrology: Below Average, Herbology: Below average, and a report of detention served for being out of bed at night added on at the end. Each point had earned her a new jinx or curse, but the worst was Ryua knew she didn't deserve any of it. She slumped down on her bed, which Dobby had kindly covered in a soft silk sheet when he heard the 'discipline' when suddenly something clicked.

Draco. That little, lying, useless cheat... For Ryua realized he must have switched their names. (Actually, the charm involved would have boosted his mark by quite a bit) She smiled grimly as she started to smear Mrs. Hiver's cooler gel on her jinx and curse sores. Oh, he would pay for this.

Later that day, Draco was outside, cheerfully taunting the family hippogryff. Ryua strode out, clad in loose robes that wouldn't rub her raw skin, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned around, and smirked when he saw the ferocious look on his sister's face. "What? Is something wrong, my dear sister?"

"You switched our marks." Ryua's voice was as cold and dangerous as her Father's, if she could have heard it.

Draco took a step back at her tone, then steadied himself again. "And if I did? What are you planning to do about it? You know we can't use magic, and I somehow doubt Father would listen to such a ridiculous story...." He was cut off by Ryua's fist slamming across his cheekbone (Crabbe and Goyle were good for something after all. Ryua had demanded they teach her how). He fell to the ground with a satisfying thud and lay there cringing. Ryua lifted her foot to give him a kick, then decided against it, he looked so pitiful lying there. She walked away, massaging her knuckles, and Draco didn't bother her for the next two weeks.


	15. End of July

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it.  
  
Author's Note: If anyone has any good names for curses, jinxes, or other spells, and could tell me them and their effects, that would be really helpful.  
End of July  
  
Ryua had an unexpected change in her routine July 20th. She had mostly stayed isolated in her room since that first day home, working steadily on homework. She had managed to stay out of her Father's sight, and convinced Dobby to bring her meals in her room whenever possible. Dobby had also brought news to her, and Ryua didn't like it. Although the Ministry was raiding for dark magic and poisons, Lucius was still planning to send something nasty to Hogwarts, probably with Draco (he didn't trust Ryua much). She hoped it wouldn't be too disruptive of term, as school was the only place she was even remotely happy.

The morning of July 20th was cool and drizzly (Ryua's favourite), and Ryua and Draco were summoned down to the Private Family Room for an important meeting. Ryua reluctantly came down into the relatively cozy room, and stood beside her brother across from their parents, as their first day home. "We have received an owl from Hogwarts," her father stated quietly. _It's too early for booklists_, Ryua thought. Sure enough, her father continued, "It contained the official school report cards." Ryua's heart skipped a beat, but she kept her face calm. "There was a slight discrepancy between the copies you bought home and the school hard copy. Draco, come with me." Her twin's face was paler than his hair as he dragged after Lucius. Narcissa looked proudly up at her daughter, but Ryua turned bitterly away. If mother had really cared what happened to Ryua, she could have stopped Father from hurting her, or at least shown some sympathy afterwards, or even showed support for Draco. He felt the curses just as much as they did.

Later that evening, a shadow slipped into Draco's room. It peeled away to reveal Ryua, holding a bottle of Mrs. Hiver's in one hand. Draco miserably groaned, "Go away." without even looking up to see who was there.

"Oh, don't be stupid. Now, sit up so I can get at your back." Ryua was both more flexable and experienced with applying the cooler gel, and Draco still couldn't reach all the welts. He sat up, although sullenly. Draco winced as his sister's gentle hands spread the gel over his raw back.

"Why are you doing this? It's not like I didn't deserve it..."

"Stop moving!" Ryua cut off her brother, "And you didn't deserve this, well, maybe not entirely. _I_ didn't deserve it, but I doubt even you needed the lesson beat into you this well. And I already paid you back for switching the names in the first place. And anyways," Ryua said, as she finished the last hard-to-reach welt, "You're my brother." She swept up her lethifold and was gone before Draco could reply, leaving the bottle of Mrs. Hiver's on his bed.


	16. Dobby's Visit

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
Dobby's Visit  
  
It was a week after report cards had arrived at the Malfoy Manor, and life wasn't too bad for Ryua. She was still in the good books from getting exceptional marks, and Draco was still slinking around the house wincing at every step. _What a baby,_ Ryua thought, _Those curse marks should have all but faded by now, and they never hurt for that long after_. Actually, she corrected herself, that wasn't entirely true. Ryua still had two light marks on her left shoulderblade where her Father's curses had cut deeper than usual. She was hoping they'd fade, however, as they always had before. Ryua was headed down to the kitchens for a quick snack. Her parents frowned upon 'excessive' eating on her part, but Ryua didn't care in the slightest. The house-elves were quite used to her now, and Dobby always had something tasty hidden somewhere. But when she walked in, the long-nosed creature was nowhere to be found. "Toppy, have you seen Dobby lately?" she asked of a female house-elf over by the magical dishwasher.

"N-No, miss." The house-elves in that household were very cautious around their humans, and having experienced their behavior herself, Ryua couldn't blame them. Still, something was a bit odd about her attitude, as Ryua was kinder to the elves than her family.

"Toppy, where is Dobby?" Ryua said, a little more demanding this time Toppy's funny little mouth worked. That wasn't a good sign, as house-elves were forbidden to keep secrets from their human masters, but Ryua hated to force her.

"Right behind you, miss!" Toppy suddenly squeaked. Sure enough, Dobby had just elf-apperated behind them, and was currently shutting his ears in the oven.

"Dobby, stop that!" Ryua snapped. He was constantly punishing himself for things, and usually didn't deserve it.

Dobby turned around slowly, and looked up at Ryua with huge, green, watering eyes. "Yes miss?"

"Walk with me." Ryua turned on her heel and marched out of the kitchens, Dobby pattering behind her. "Now, where were you just now?" she asked in a low voice.

"D-Dobby was just... doing house-elf things, miss, nothing miss needs to worry about..."

"Dobby," Ryua cut across the elf's trailing sentence, "I know you weren't doing anything normal, I can see it in your eyes. So, tell me. I promise I won't tell Father."

Dobby blinked his huge green eyes and whispered, "Dobby was visiting."

"Visiting? Who?" Dobby looked like he was about to start beating his head again, so Ryua said, "Wait, pretend I never said that. How about you tell me why you were visiting?"

"Well..." Dobby whispered up at her, "Dobby wanted to tell someone... something important. Dobby didn't mean to do something wrong..." _Something important, eh?_ Ryua had an idea that Dobby was talking about the mysterious something Father was planning to send to school, but who would he want to warn about it... Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson... they were all useless, and probably wouldn't be harmed by the whatever it was anyways. Dobby didn't know any other wizards, unless...

"Dobby, were you visiting Potter? No, wait," she amended as Dobby started to bang his head against the wall, "don't answer that. Just tell me, what else do you know about this plot of Father's?"

Dobby's gigantic green eyes welled up again, and he replied, "No, miss, Dobby cannot say. Dobby said he wouldn't tell little miss and master..." Dobby broke up into loud, large sobs.

Ryua stifled a groan (house-elves could be so hard to deal with sometimes) "Never mind, Dobby. Just go back to the kitchens before Father catches you so upset." As he elf-apperated back to the kitchens, Ryua sighed. Now she really wanted to learn what secret plan Father had up his sleeve. If it needed Dobby to be sworn to secrecy, and if it in turn made Dobby anxious enough to go visit the family rival about it, it really must be big. Ah, well, school started soon enough.


	17. A Trip Down Knockturn Alley

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
A Trip Down Knockturn Alley  
  
Ryua was thouroughly excited. Just because she was nicer than her family didn't mean she wasn't fascinated by the Dark Arts, and Father was taking the twins on his errands. They would be doing their regular school shopping afterwards, but first, they were going to Knockturn Alley, the place with the darkest reputation this part of the wizarding world. Ryua dressed in a dark green summer dress with a long silver vest over top, sweeping her hair up into a dignified (booooring!) bun, and skipped down the stairs to meet her family in the Floo room. Draco, for some reason, always took more time than Ryua to get ready to go, but would hopefully show up before Father got too impatient.

Although the aristocratic man tried to always act unconcerned and dignified, he was apparently getting worried about the Ministry's raids. Ryua knew what kinds of things Father kept hidden in his various caches about the estates, and also knew they would be highly embarrassing, to say the least, if they were to be found. Even though most of the poisons weren't anywhere in her potions manuals, she could decipher enough of the ingredients to know they were used to cause all sorts of nasty, terrifying, cruel effects resulting in death. And that wasn't even talking about the painful looking instruments hung caringly around the dark walls. Probably left over from the Death Eater days, Ryua had always thought. She had found two major vaults of the stuff, and doubted that was the extent of it. Draco ran in to the room, interrupting Ryua's musings, and they all departed through the fireplace.

They arrived in a small, dark room that had an evilly luxurious feel about it. As Ryua and Draco filed out behind their Father, the luxury left abrubtly, replaced by filth, but the evil feeling remained. There were shops full of barrels of dangerous looking things that Ryua was just itching to look at, but Father steered them directly to a dingy place called "Borgin's and Burke's" _Ah, well, this looks just as good._ "Touch nothing, children," Lucius' voice came just as Draco was about to pick up a rather dangerous looking glass eye.

Draco was apparently over his cowering phase now, as he whined, "I thought you said you would by me a present..." Draco's voice faded into the background as Ryua started to explore the shop. Actually, they had both turned twelve on August 1st, and their parents had promised a shopping trip for a birthday present each. Ryua already had her mind set on a pet. Her owl was useful, (and actually kind of cute) but it couldn't be cuddled. She had debated for a long time about it, and decided a snake would be the best thing. Not only did she love them, but her father couldn't make noise about it being unsuitable, and Draco would think twice about torturing something with teeth, intelligence, and reflexes ten times better than his own.

Suddenly Ryua stopped dead in her tracks. A large cabinet in the corner with one door slightly ajar had drawn her gaze for a split second. As she looked again, she saw what had caught her earlier, a flash of green. Draco was also headed towards the cabinet, although not with the same purpose Ryua had. He was about to reach for the door when Ryua said, "Ooh, Draco, come see these opals! Merlin's beard, nineteen muggles..." Draco pushed her out of the way, but Ryua didn't mind in the slightest. Draco was distracted from the cabinet, and she walked unobtrusively over to it. Sure enough, even though she had never seen them this close, or without glasses, only one person had eyes that shade of green. Ryua winked at Harry Potter and leaned on the closed door, just in case Draco came back to snoop.

Two minutes later, the Malfoys left to meet Narcissa to split up for birthday shopping. Ryua and her mother went off to the new pet shop next to Ollivander's , leaving Draco and Father to pick something for her brother's spoiled taste. The cheerful witch behind the counter led them back to the reptile room, dodging a mean tempered orange cat which attempted to rip them to shreds. Ryua wandered the snake cages, looking at the tiny thread snakes, up to a gigantic boa, and snakes of almost every color and size in between. She settled on a young albino King Cobra, with a four foot long body, translucent and yellow scales, and clear red eyes framed by a white, yellow, and pink patterned hood. She walked out with her mother, stroking the magically smart reptile looped about her shoulders, and headed to the floo room. Draco and Father would be meeting them home later.  
  
Author's Note: Sorry, I'd forgotten this chapter wasn't completely done yet, so I've finished editing it now. I'll try not to do that again...


	18. Back at Home

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
Back at Home  
  
When Draco and Father finally came home, one was ecstatic, and the other was livid. In fact, Lucius had a marvelously colored shiner developing, which Draco later told her was incurred in a fistfight with Arthur Weasly. Well, actually, an Encyclopedia of Toadstools had done the damage, but Ryua would have enjoyed seeing Lucius Malfoy scrapping like a common muggle.

Draco, on the other hand, was as cheerful as could be. For his present, Father had taken him to Quality Quidditch Supplies to get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One. Not only that, he had bought six others, enough to outfit the entire Slytherin House team. Ryua looked at it enviously. Made of black walnut, with a glittering gold lettering, (Draco's had his name personalized under the Nimbus logo) it was superior even to last year's Nimbus model. Apparently, the idea was to buy her brother on to the team. Ryua could probably train him up to be a half-decent seeker, but her family was still in denial that she had any skills at all, especially in something as "gentlemanly" as quidditch. (All the other house teams had girls at least some of the time, but neither captain Marcus Flint nor her old- fashioned father would let her near a broomstick, even though she believed she could fly circles around them). Draco believed her too. And for once in his life, he felt his sister was really being wronged in this, but he would never say so to Lucius.

Her snake, Parsyl, however, made Draco almost as jealous. One of the few personality traits the twins shared was a love of snakes, and Parsyl was an exquisite example of one. Her powerful white body coiled easily around Ryua, having already bonded to the girl, and Draco looked on wistfully. Ah, well, maybe she'd let Draco feed her once in a while or something, if he'd let her on that broom...  
  
Author's Note: I've had 6 reviews to date, and I'm sorry to say I haven't given any of them credit yet. Which is not entirely my fault, by the way. I'm swamped with homework, being in Grade 12, (and I got FFX-2 for my birthday, so I'm distracted...) and I only have internet access once or twice a week. I type my stories at home, which explains why I'll have five chapters at once, but then I have difficulty getting information off the website to my home computer. So, to catch up with everyone; JeanieBeanie37- Ryua is a derivitive of Ryu, or Ryou, or something like that(it's got more than one English spelling). It's Japanese for dragon. Athena Diagon Cat, Argo Hades, and littlemissarwen- thanks so much for reading and reviewing, it's so cool to know people are enjoying something I made. Sarahamanda- Is she good or bad? Well, I'm not really sure yet. Ryua's definitely not your teacher's pet, and she has a bit of a talent for dark curses, but she's no death eater either. She's way more likely to be on Harry's side than the Dark Lord, for example. I'm a fanfiction critic- thanks for all the suggestions. This is the first creative (or any writing) I've done in quite a while, as I finished English last year, so I'm a bit rusty with my skills. I really like the idea of having her interact more with the other Slytherins, watch for it once she gets back to school. Oh, and to everyone, I don't actually own the books. I can only borrow them for a couple weeks at a time from the library, and Order of the Phoenix isn't likely to end up on the borrowing shelves for months yet, so please have a bit of patience. I'll often incorporate bits and pieces from the books, but they'll be a bit off either because I can't remember it verbatim, or I've rewritten it for Ryua's existance  
  
PS: If anyone has any plot suggestions for the any of the years, please tell me. I've got bits and pieces thought up, but I'm having trouble stringing any of it together. I'll send you a special coupon by owl, promising Ryua will come curse someone for you if they're being aggrevating.


	19. Finally! Summer's Over

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
Finally! Summer's Over...  
  
Ryua was excited. Really excited. Even though Draco had accidentally guaranteed her an easier summer than she'd expected with that little report card stunt, she couldn't wait to get out of the house. Only 12 years old, and seriously considering moving out. Nah, wouldn't work. Anyways, she would be at Hogwarts for the better part of a year starting tomorrow, and that was just fine. She was already completely packed, including those ridiculous Lockhart books.

Who did that guy think he was, anyways? Oh, sure, his pictures on the back (and front, and inside cover, and at least every third page) were enough to make a witch melt with happiness, but honestly. The stories were fantastic, to be sure, but they were just a little obviously false, if one cared to check. Ryua had actually done some research to see if this smiling warlock was anything he boasted to be, and discovered that he had never been to Transylvania, Nigeria, or anywhere in the orient, and only visited Bulgaria during a Quidditch Cup. Also, he misspelled Homorphus charm three different ways, classified Cornish Pixies as a deadly creature, and never explained how he found out about these monsters, or discovered the spells. He talked about everything else he did, so why couldn't he give a more in-depth report about getting to the area and finding clues. And he kept making huge, vague references to his excellent marks in school, but Ryua couldn't find the name of the academy anywhere in his books... Ach, she had better things to think about than Lockhart.

As a second year, she was technically allowed to participate in the school quidditch league. Unfortunately, she also had no broom, Father would never allow it, and even if he didn't find out, Flint would never allow a girl into practices. Ugh, maybe she was better off thinking about Lockhart. Ryua rolled over in her bed, trying to switch topics. _Hmm, let's see..._ Her Father had actually been surprisingly cheerful after getting home from Diagon Alley, considering his eye had started to change nasty bruised colors by then. Ryua bribed Draco into telling her about it, letting him feed Parsil, and he said something about Father going through one of the Weasley's schoolbooks. Maybe he was planning to smuggle in the diary through the innocent Weasley girl.

Lucius had finally told his children his plan to open the Chamber of Secrets, but wouldn't give them any information other than it had something to do with an old diary that had to get to Hogwarts somehow. Unlike most of the students attending Hogwarts, Ryua had actually read 'Hogwarts, A History' and knew at least the bare bones of the legend. It was surprisingly dull, (incredible how textbooks could do that to even grippingly exciting stories) and Father refused to tell them anymore. _Probably so we won't get caught knowing too much and get expelled by panicked teachers_ Ryua thought. _I wonder who in the school could possibly be considered the Heir of Slytherin? I seriously doubt it's me or Draco, we'd have noticed something by now._ Ryua knew that Salazar Slytherin, and his heir sixty years ago, spoke parseltounge. She was good with snakes, but no parselmouth. She also doubted Crabbe or Goyle could speak another language, as they couldn't even speak English fluently, and Blaise Zabini, or Flint, Pansy, or Millicent weren't exactly likely candidates either. The Heir of Slytherin. It obviously had to be a Slytherin, the hat wouldn't put the person anywhere else. Ah, well, she'd no doubt find out soon...


	20. An Interesting Start to School

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
An Interesting Start to School  
  
Dobby wasn't there to say good morning and goodbye to Ryua when she woke up. _Kind of odd,_ she thought. Dobby had always been friendly to her, even after Parsil had tried to eat him the first night she was in Ryua's room. Ryua shrugged, pulling on her school robes and twisting her hair up in a bun for the last time for the entire school year. Parsil wasn't impressed with being in a carrier, and Ryua didn't mind hiding her under her robes, but it was against school policy to have loose pets on the train, especially poisonous ones. She did keep the carrier to herself, however, even when the house elves and then manservants at platform 9 ¾ carried her other things. She sat on a window seat watching the other students arrive. _Well, there goes the Weasley clan_, she thought, _But I don't see what's- his-name, Ron, or Potter for that matter. They've only got a few minutes left... _And sure enough, the train pulled away at exactly 11 o'clock, leaving Potter and Weasley behind.

They reappeared during the sorting. Ryua's seat at the Slytherin table faced out to the north grounds, and she noticed a peculiar thing in the sky. It appeared to be a set of headlights. Yes, headlights, like on a car. Why there was a car in the sky, Ryua had no idea, but it was definitely flying towards the school, now highlighted faintly by the glowing tower windows. By now, a few more were watching, and she noticed Professor Snape get up and storm out the door. Suddenly, the car jerked, and started into a nosedive. Ryua flinched as it hit the Whomping Willow, which promptly started to whomp. The car backed out of range of the flailing branches, opened its doors and sent two figures sprawling onto the grass, followed by two pet cages and trunks. It then drove angrily (how could a car drive angrily?) into the Forbidden Forest, leaving Potter and Weasly to trudge up to the castle.

She tore her gaze away from the window again, as Dumbledore was introducing the new teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. He promptly started into a long, intensely dull speech about his books and how he was planning to teach the students to defend themselves "as he had done on countless occasions..."

Draco summed it up perfectly: "Blah, blah, blah, doesn't this guy ever shut up?" Ryua suppressed a snort of laughter.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Hey, you sounded intelligent for a change! Well, weirder things have happened, I suppose..." Draco elbowed her in the ribs, trying to act angry underneath an actual smile. They may have hated each other at times, but there was no denying that they fit with each other, like moon and stars.


	21. Quidditch

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
Quidditch  
  
Ryua woke up to Millicent's snoring. _Ugh, at least Pansy's quiet,_ she thought to herself. Ah, well, she wanted to get up early anyways. Although she knew it wouldn't do any good, Ryua had taken to shadowing the Slytherin Quidditch team. She envied the players, with the seven Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones her Father had donated to the team, the time they were allowed to spend outside in the sun and open air, and most of all, just being allowed to fly. Ryua was a junkie on flight. If she couldn't do it herself, then she'd watch others on broomsticks, even if it made her ache with longing.

Pansy rolled over, also woken by Millicent and saw Ryua changing into her warm robes. "You can't seriously be thinking of going out to watch practice again? It's too early, and it's not like anything exciting ha-ha-happens anyways..." Pansy said as she tried to stifle a yawn. She was not one of the early risers of the world.

"You don't have to come, Pansy." Ryua was trying to be a little nicer to Pansy, and it was definitely easier when the other girl was too asleep to be prissy. "Just go back to sleep, okay? It's a Saturday, so you don't have to get up unless you want breakfast."

"Okay," Pansy mumbled, face already back in her pillow. Ryua gave a small grin at her dormmate's sleepiness, picked up her cloak (with Parsyl already around her shoulders, of course) and walked out the door. Sure enough, it was just the crack of dawn by the time Ryua got to a window, and the brisk breeze woke her up the rest of the way. The team was already on the pitch, which was good for Ryua. She could find a spot without being seen by the chauvinistic players, who seemed to think even the presence of a girl watching quidditch was bad luck.

Sheltered from the wind and player's eyes, Ryua watched from a bench in the shadow of the main bleachers as they started in on their drills. _I think Bletchley's getting worse,_ Ryua thought to herself. _The boy couldn't catch the quaffle if it were magnetically attracted to his hands._ He really was awful. The Slytherins' main advantage was their brutality, size, and aggressiveness. Draco was easily the most nimble of the seven, and he was no Victor Krum. Ryua avidly watched all of the players' drills, but especially the keeper's. She was always able to envision exactly what she could do to guard those hoops, and from sneaking out occasionally to practice the drills on their brooms, knew she was more competent at it than Bletchley. She also had a feeling she could seek better than her brother, but it wasn't exactly likely she would get a chance at either position.  
  
She was wrong.  
  
The day of the first quidditch match started off with Flint bellowing through the entire Slytherin common room. Ryua pulled on her housecoat and walked out to see what the fuss was all about. Crabbe and Goyle were pulling Bletchley along by the elbows, apparently up to the hospital wing. She thought this for a very simple reason; Bletchley was retching, green, and looked all round sick. Flint was absolutely furious, demanding of all of his players, "What the blazes am I supposed to do now? We play in less than two hours, and I AM MISSING A KEEPER!" He was getting violent now, a few sleepy first years ducking back into their rooms as he began to throw random textbooks and kick the furniture.

"Flint. Flint! HEY FLINT!" Draco yelled from behind a couch, "Relax, will you? I know someone who can keep for the day."

Flint froze in the midst of shredding Encyclopedia of Toadstools and whipped his head around to face his seeker. "What? You have someone? Is he any good?"

"Yes, very." Draco stepped gingerly out from behind the couch.

"And he's ready to play?"

"Well, I'll need to shrink Bletchley's robes a bit to fit, but it shouldn't be a problem. You'll have your keeper by game start." Draco patted his quidditch captain on the shoulder, directing him back to his dorm. "Now, get changed, and for Merlin's sake, have a shower. The fact that you smell on the ground might carry over and you'll stink at quidditch."

Ryua giggled at that, and went to change into her own robes. When she came back into the common room, however, Draco was still there, tapping his foot impatiently. "Well, it's about bloody time! Come on, we have to get you sized up for these robes, and smuggle you into the change room before Flint catches a girl on her way to the pitch!"

"Wha- Draco, you were talking about me? But, I haven't been on a broom in..."

"Oh, stop that," Draco was measuring and frantically shrinking burly Bletchley's robes to fit Ryua's drastically different frame, "I've seen you sneaking out to the pitch at night, and I've noticed you down in the stands during practice. And anyways, you could out-fly Bletchley with your hands tied behind your back. Here, go put this on, and meet me in the entrance hall in five minutes." He threw the now much smaller set of quidditch robes at Ryua and rushed out the door. Ryua snapped out of her daze and turned quickly back to her dorm room, shedding her cloak as she went. It took her all of 90 seconds to get into her robes and pull her hair back into a sleek ponytail, and was on the way to the entrance hall before Pansy or Millicent even registered her presence.

Draco was there waiting for her, holding a stack of toast. "My, aren't we excited? Here, eat this on the way, we can't have Flint see you until it's too late to change his plans."

Ryua grinned through a mouthful of toast and marmalade, "I'm just so giddy. D'you honestly think this will work?"

"Well, if it doesn't, I'll be out of a quidditch position, and Father will disown us both if not kill us when he finds out, at least if you do badly. So eat the rest of your toast, I can't afford you fainting halfway through the match."

When Marcus Flint walked into the Slytherin changerooms and saw Ryua holding a broomstick and wearing quidditch robes, he nearly started bellowing again. Luckily for Ryua and Draco, Lee Jordan had just started to announce the Gryffindor team, and it was too late to do anything about it. They flew out to their positions when called by Jordan, Ryua gliding easily to her center ring. She was ecstatic. The air was crisp, with almost no breeze, the light was clear, but the clouds prevented glare, and most important of all, she was flying. Hovering on a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, sixty feet above the ground, every nerve, every blood cell, every muscle in her body feeling wide awake, completely capable, and utterly alive, Ryua was the happiest she could ever imagine. The people in the stands were an unimportant blur, the other players as clear as if they were right in front of her. Madam Hooch threw the quaffle up in the air, and the game was on.

Flint took the quaffle, passed it to Puecy, who got smashed by a bludger and dropped it. It was scooped up by a blonde Gryffindor chaser, and Ryua suddenly tensed. Her knees and feet hooked onto her broom, and her hands loosed the handle slightly, ready to catch the quaffle. The chasers passed it back and forth, up, down, behind, left, and without warning, straight towards Ryua's left ring. Without even thinking, her knees twitched, sending her broom smoothly to the side, her hands reaching out to snatch the bright red ball three feet from the goal. She whipped around, slinging the quaffle out towards Flint, who, although looking a little surprised she could catch and throw it, sped off towards the far goalposts. Ryua scanned the rest of the field, seeing Draco gliding up above, and Potter darting around an awful lot more. Oh, there was a bludger after him. Hey, shouldn't it have let him be by now? She snapped back to her own position long enough to club the quaffle out of her goal zone, and focused back up on the seekers. Even if she wasn't experienced yet, she knew bludgers should go in the direction a beater hits them, but this one kept circling back. Oh, well, one less for her to worry about. Ten minutes later, the Slytherins had scored sixty points, and Ryua had made sure Gryffindor never got above zero.

The clouds had just started to spit rain, a cooling sensation to counter the hot adrenaline surging through her body. Ryua had thought she was best at Potions. Well, that was over now. Quidditch was her best talent by far, and she was never going to give it up, regardless of what Father said. Flint woudn't be a problem, he wanted to win more than keep an all-male team, and Ryua had quickly become one of the best players on the team.

Unfortunately, whoever catches the snitch gets 150 points. Her dratted brother had missed the snitch hovering on his head, and Potter managed to grab it with his left hand, falling to the ground in a dead faint. Which wasn't actually much of a surprise, considering that bludger had broken his right. Ryua glided down with the rest of the team for Flint's lecture. Draco caught the brunt of it, obviously, and when Ryua asked what she was supposed to do now, Flint just looked oddly at her, saying "Well, you're going to show up every morning for practice, or I will send Professor Snape in to get you, after which, you'll wish you were never born."

"Don't show up late for practice, got it." Ryua walked happily off towards the castle, still running off an adrenaline high, even though they hadn't won the match. Harry Potter, on the other hand was now looking at his limp (and I mean completely limp) arm, feeling rather terrible, even though they had won the match.


	22. The Chamber Opens

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
The Chamber Opens  
  
Ryua was sitting on her bed, idly stroking Parsyl. She'd been acting oddly these last few weeks, always tense, and had jerked to a defensive stance so quickly one night that she knocked Ryua's ink bottle all over her work. Ryua listened to try and discover what had upset her, and had heard a distant hiss or growl. She had no idea what it was, but it sounded vaguely like Parsyl on a feeding night, eagerly awaiting her mice. Parsyl had calmed down immediately once the sound stopped, although she was still just a little on the tense side.

She had finished her homework earlier that day, even that stupid poem Lockhart assigned. What kind of a teacher assigns poems for DADA anyways? Pansy flounced in just then, looking far too simpering and prissy as usual. "Come on, Ryua! The Halloween feast is starting, you don't want to miss that."

"And how could you possibly presume to think that you know what I want and don't want? The feast doesn't start for another five minutes yet, so stop acting like an upstart secretary and let me be." Ryua actually didn't want to miss the feast, but cursed if she was going to get up because Parkinson said so.

"Hmph, really!" Pansy said angrily and stalked back out again. Ryua rolled out of bed and straightened her robes and hair with a flick of her wand. She sighed. Ryua didn't really mean to come across so cold and snappish, but she couldn't really help it. It came from living with her family. They weren't exactly the easiest people to get along with, and Pansy wasn't exactly being much better. If she wasn't trying to suck up to Ryua, she was trying to be superior, or worse, flirting with her brother. Ryua gave an involuntary shudder, trying to get that image out of her mind. Parsyl slid up to hide under her cloak, and she strode smoothly out and up to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was packed, and decorated with pumpkins, bats, and globes of orange and black (yes, black, not that fluorescent stuff) light floating where the candles normally hung. She was actually starting to enjoy herself, as even her normally dour house was in good spirits over such a fun holiday, so the air was filled with light chatter. The house-elves had outdone themselves, putting up an incredible feast that just kept coming as the dishes were emptied, and best of all, the ghosts were doing some eerie play above the head table, which meant the Bloody Baron wasn't sitting between the twins. Yes, the evening was quite enjoyable.

Suddenly, Parsyl gave a sudden convulsive jerk under her cloak, hissing softly. Ryua dropped her fork into her harvest apple pie, grabbing at Parsyl's coils, which had just slipped up from her shoulders to her neck. She stroked the snake, trying to calm it and listen over the babble of voices "Ryua, what's the matter?" Draco's voice cut across her concentration.

"Shh!" Ryua jerked her hand to silence Draco, and listened again. Sure enough, her ears locked onto a sound, slightly out of sync with the noise of the common room; a low hiss, building in intensity and excitement, until she could almost distinguish words, bloodthirsty words.

Draco tried again, "Ryua, what is it? You're acting rather odd."

"Can't you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what? It's too loud in here to hear anything. What are you talking about? You're starting to creep me out." Sure enough, his face had an unusually concerned expression on it as he studied Ryua.

"That noise, that hissing...Oh, never mind, it's stopped now," she looked over at her brother. "Sorry Draco, I guess I was just hearing Parsyl." Just then, the whole hall of students got up to leave. Ryua stood too, coiling Parsyl back under her cloak as they all filed out into the entrance hall. The people in front stopped dead, so naturally Ryua and Draco pushed through to the front, where they too, stopped in their tracks. Four foot high letters, written in what Ryua recognized immediately as blood, spelled out  
'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED  
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE'

Ryua had never seen Draco look so excited, and she couldn't help but be a little thrilled herself. The Chamber of Secrets was like their ultimate purpose, the thing every dark witch and wizard dreamed to find at Hogwarts. Although, the sight of the stiff Mrs. Norris in the torch bracket was kind of sad. Draco apparently felt no problems with that however, declaring in a loud clear voice, "Enemies of the heir beware. You'll be next, mudbloods!" The teachers arrived just then, and dispatched the students back into the common rooms, although they dragged Potter, Weasley, and Granger off for questioning.

Back in the common room, Ryua and Draco kicked Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle out of the boy's dorm to have a serious talk. "So this is the secret Father was planning, eh?"

Ryua grinned back at her brother, whose face was still flushed with excitement. "Yeah, I guess so. But," and her face drew into a thoughtful expression, "who opened it? I suppose I'd always assumed it would be you or me, just because, well, it just seems like that's what it'd be..."

"You know, I have no idea," Draco looked puzzled. "Wouldn't you think Father would have told us more, about the Chamber, or what happened before, or what we're supposed to do about it now? I mean, it's just what we do, get involved in every bit of dark magic that comes along."

"Well, he might have told you, but I seriously doubt he'd have told me. Father doesn't trust me with anything."

"Yeah. I wonder why anyways? I mean, you're a half-decent witch, although I clearly outshine you...."

"No, that's just it, Draco. In his eyes, you do outshine me. Same reason I can't play quidditch. Just because I'm female, he thinks I'm incompetent..." Ryua broke off bitterly before she said anything else.

Draco didn't mean for her to take his remark seriously, so he changed the subject to something less deadly, "Hey, didn't you hear it?"

"Hear what?" Ryua had been in self reflection, not thinking about anything else.

Draco gave a huge, false, exasperated sigh, "At supper. You know, you were talking about some sort of hissing, just before we all found the cat."

Ryua stared at her brother. "Hey, yeah, you're right. But, I thought it was just Parsyl..." she gestured at the dozing snake around her shoulders.

"No, no I don't think so, Ryua. The monster of the Chamber must be Salazar Slytherin's pet, right? He was famous for being a Parselmouth. I bet it's some sort of giant snake." Draco's eyes went wide, and said, "You're not a Parselmouth are you?"

"No." But Ryua was thinking again. She could tell what Parsyl wanted most of the time, even was starting to recognize some of the sounds she made. And now that she thought about it, she could almost hear sounds in that hiss, but no, she couldn't really speak Parseltongue. "No," she said again, "I'm good with snakes, but I can't talk to them, not in their own language anyways."

"Bummer. It would be really excellent if you were." Draco's grin was back, the one only Ryua ever saw much, the real one. Yes, they would have made an excellent pair, terrorizing the school...  
  
And to Athena Diagon Cat- you read my mind. I've been thinking for weeks about whether to make her a parselmouth or not, and now you see I've made a bit of a compromise.


	23. The Dueling Club

As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?  
  
The Dueling Club  
  
There was a noticed pinned up in the great hall later that month, and it was the subject of much excited talking among the students. Interested, Ryua strode up one day, sliding some first year to the side so she could get a good look. _A dueling club! This should be fun._ She sat back down by her brother, saying "Draco, did you know that Lockhart is starting up a dueling club?"

"Lockhart?" her brother looked up at her incredulously, "The man can't even hold his wand right for those stupid skits in DADA. How does he expect to teach us how to duel? Actually, I doubt he knows as many curses as we do, so what's the point?"

"He's not the only one teaching, Professor Snape is his 'assistant'. Personally, I think he just wants a legitimate excuse to hex him, but he could teach us something. And don't act so superior. Just because we know the curses doesn't mean we can cast them yet." Ryua said, trying (and failing) to be civil to Draco. She owed him for getting her onto the quidditch team, but that was starting to wear off now, as the Slytherin team had just flattened Hufflepuff, 430-0 in the last match. Plus, she had written his last three essays, and spent four hours teaching him an enlarging charm. Ryua figured she was just about done repaying him now. "It's worth a look, unless you particularly want to start on that transfiguration project yet," Ryua said, knowing it would convince Draco to go.

"Oh, fine. But, you know it's going to be full of two kinds of people; rabid fan girls, and people terrified they'll get petrified." Actually, that was the main reason the club had been set up. The entire school had been scared stiff since that annoying Creevy from Gryffindor showed up petrified. Draco was rather pleased by the whole thing, but Ryua wasn't so sure. It was natural for her to be excited about the Chamber, coming from a family such as her own, but some of it just seemed wrong. Killing defenseless students, or at least trying to, it just didn't ring true. They should be given some way to defend themselves, make it a challenge, a test, something other than a senseless hunt it was impossible to lose. That just took away the joy of the kill, the sense of accomplishment and pride in your skills.

That evening, the great hall had been cleared of all tables, leaving just a raised platform in the center, along which Lockhart was strutting, showing off for the giggly girls clustered around him. Luckily, Ryua didn't have to watch the disgusting display for long, because Professor Snape had just walked in, immediately requiring silence from the assembled crowd. After a long, boring, and pointless speech about himself, Lockhart announced they would be learning the Expelliarmus charm. _Hey, maybe this won't be so bad after all, _Ryua thought to herself. She and Draco picked up a lot of curses and hexes at home, and could probably beat any student in the school silly with them, but they were never really taught how to duel. A disarming charm was something Ryua didn't know, and was actually something she wouldn't mind learning.

Just then, she was snapped out of her thoughts by the two teachers pacing out to the end of the platform, and turning to face each other. Ryua almost winced (but she really felt he deserved it) as Lockhart fell unceremoniously onto his rear, wand flying in an easy arc to land in Professor Snape's hand. Lockhart tried to rise to his feet in a dignified manner (and failed), tried to brush it off as allowing the spell through (and failed again, it was painfully obvious he was just incompetent), and just decided to save as much face as he had left and divided them up into pairs (actually he failed at that too. Ryua ended up with both Crabbe and Goyle, which was probably a fairer fight anyways). "Ready," Lockhart called importantly from the dais. Ryua crouched down on the balls of her feet, wand drawn back like a striking snake behind her head, muscles tense, ready for Lockhart's go. "And, fire!" "Expelliarmus!" Ryua shouted, snapping her wand down at Crabbe. She pulled it back, catching his wand in her left and cast it again at Goyle. She easily fielded that wand too, and was back in her ready stance before either one had registered what had happened. "Well come on, up you get," Ryua said, tossing their wands back. "Your turn. Try to hit me." She crouched back down, a dangerous grin on her face. She was enjoying this almost as much as quidditch. The two boys just looked at each other and back to her again. "Oh, please," Ryua said exasperatedly, "Just like I did. Point your wand, and say expelliarmus. It's not that difficult, you should be able to do this. It's just like hitting someone to make them drop something, only you don't use your hand." "Ex pill arm us!" Crabbe's spell didn't even get off of his wand. "Expelleeeearmus!" Goyle, slightly more articulate, managed to create something that brushed against Ryua's wand arm, but barely wavered her grip. "Oh, for Slytherin's sake... Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!" Two wands flew in the air, both landing neatly in Ryua's outstretched palm. She was about to turn to one of the teachers for replacement partners but they were trying to call a halt anyways.

There was mayhem everywhere she looked. Some Hufflepuff was unconscious next to Weasley, Millicent had Granger in a headlock, and... "Rictoshempra!" Ryua had to bite down a giggle at that. Draco hated that charm, and Potter had just hit him with an excellent example.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart's panicked voice came over the general babble. Once things quietned down, they called for a volunteer pair. Of course, Draco and Potter were picked by Professor Snape, as his favourite and his least favourite pitted against each other was something he would enjoy. Ryua noticed him whispering to Draco as Lockhart tried to show Potter a block. Potter looked more nervous than before, as Lockhart had just dropped his wand, and told him to do the same. "Now face your partner and bow, (neither one did) and walk ten paces. On my ready, then," Lockhart raised his hand impressively as he spoke, "and begin!"

He only just got out of the way. "Serpensortia!" Draco's voice rang out as a large cobra shot out of the end of his wand. Parsyl looked up from Ryua's cloak in the corner, but laid back down when she saw it was only a magical summoning. As Professor Snape strode forward to 'save' Potter from the snake, Lockhart, of course, decided to do it instead. Ryua winced as the snake was scorched by a badly aimed spell along its side, and was thrown into the crowd, unfortunately, on the wrong side of the platform. Ryua could have probably calmed it down in no time, but it instead landed in a group of Hufflepuffs. Suddenly a strange hissing voice came, so akin to the Chamber monster that Ryua half-jumped. But, no, this one was different, more commanding and calming than hungry and violent. She pushed herself halfway onto the platform, and saw it was Potter talking to the snake. _Potter, a Parselmouth? How in Merlin's name could that be?_ As he kept talking, Ryua's ears probed his low voice for meaning, not quite deciphering words, and then suddenly "...ave him be!"

Ryua lost her grip on the platform and slipped to the ground as she suddenly heard faint, garbled words out of the hissing. No one was watching her fall, however, all eyes were on the intent form of the tousle-haired Gryffindor. Apparently, no one else seemed to think he was stopping the snake, as they all turned on him, convinced he had been egging it on to eat some Hufflepuff who looked like he had just wet his pants. Potter ran out, Weasley and Granger following, while the other students filed out the opposite door.

"Draco, did you hear that?" Ryua hissed to her brother as they walked down to the common room. "He was speaking Parseltoungue! He was actually telling that snake to back off!"

"Oh, that's what he said." Draco looked a little thoughtful still, and faintly jealous. "Hey, wait a minute. How do you know what he was saying?"

"I don't know, I was just really listening hard, same as when that monster's around. I could just barely make out some faint words towards the end of it."

"Huh, weird. Well, I still doubt he's the Heir of Slytherin. Although, that Creevy kid was annoying him, maybe he did petrify him."

"Not a chance. Did you see his face? He didn't even know he was speaking Parseltongue, he couldn't have unlocked the Chamber without speaking it." Ryua broke off thoughtfully. "You know, it's now a three-way tie for Heir, I bet. You are easily nasty enough to kill off mudbloods, I know enough to figure out how to get in, and Potter's a Parselmouth. The funny thing, it's not any of us, and none of us knows where to find the heir."  
  
Author's Note: I had to return the Chamber of Secrets to the library, so I doubt this follows the book version very much. It was mostly from another point of view anyways, but sorry if I misspelled any spells or got the chronological order messed up, or something like that. It's not my fault :(


	24. Polyjuice Potion

As much as I would like to, I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters (Except Ryua), most of the places, or the majority of the spells. I'm trying to follow the books' storyline, not the movies', but I can only get them at the library off and on, same as internet access. Updates will be kinda random, but they will keep coming, especially if I know people read my story. So please review? Or I'll send you an unforgivable curse by howler...  
  
Polyjuice Potion  
  
(_Gryffindor Trio, Moaning Myrtle's room, 1 week before Christmas)_ "Is that the last of it, then?" Ron asked, "We've been brewing this forever, and someone's bound to notice eventually, or Percy'll write Mom telling on me."

"Oh, Ron, stop being so uptight. You're always the one convincing me to break the rules," Hermione replied. "And yes, it's ready for the bits." They had finally obtained the Boomslang skin and Bicorn horn a fortnight back.

Harry's firecracker had been extremely effective, the only Slytherin escaping un-swelled being Ryua, who ducked behind Crabbe. There had to be some perks to having the lumbering brute for a Potions partner. Hermione had smuggled out the items, and as far as they knew, no one had caught them. As Ryua was the only one who had avoided being splashed, she had been drafted by Snape to dose the affected students and so was quite busy. Now, all they had to do was divide it up and add their respective pieces of Slytherins. "So, who do we ask about?" Harry asked, "We're pretty sure it's Draco, right?"

"Maybe," Hermione replied, "But he just doesn't strike me as being able to pull this all off. He's easily nasty enough, but I bet he's getting help."

"So, who in Slytherin's smart enough to give him any help? I mean, Malfoy's the best in the class." Ron said, looking skeptical. "No, he's actually not, Ron," Hermione said back, "He's just louder than his sister about what he's 'good' at."

"Ryua?" Now it was Harry's turn to be skeptical. He still remembered how she had kept Draco from finding him down Knockturn Alley. "She's not the type to go killing off muggle-borns, is she?"

"Do we know anything good about her? She's the daughter of a slimy dark pureblood family, and you can see how much she enjoys cursing people. It's not exactly like she's ever shown much kindness towards anyone." Ron hated all Malfoys, and was quite willing to believe both of the ones currently at Hogwarts were capable of deeds beyond mention.

"Well, the whole discussion is pointless anyways. We're not planning on becoming either of them, so we should be able to ask them both," Harry said, "Now dole out that potion before we all become sensible and change our minds."  
  
(_Ryua, Slytherin common room, ten minutes later_) _Where was that idiot?_ Crabbe was still missing, and Ryua had to get him to write his name on the top of her potions essay so she could hand it in as a group project. What a stroke of luck he was staying for Christmas holidays too. Actually, Ryua had no idea why they were allowed to stay at Hogwarts, but she wasn't complaining in the slightest. Any free time away from her parents... She turned as the door swung open and her brother sauntered in, flanked by his usual cronies. She was about to cross over to them, but something held her back.

Draco picked up the Daily Prophet article he'd clipped out that morning and waved it in their faces. Oddly enough, they actually seemed to be reading it. Ryua couldn't remember the two of them ever reading anything without a lot of help before, not to mention understanding it. And, for some reason, Crabbe appeared to dislike the article, although he blamed his clenched fists on a stomachache. The conversation turned then to one of Draco's favourite rants. "They think Potter is the Heir of Slytherin? Hah. I do wish we knew who it was, though, we could help them."

Actually, Ryua was wondering about the identity of the Heir herself, as it wasn't safe to have a powerful dark witch or wizard wandering around you didn't know. Crabbe and Goyle looked crestfallen too, but they were supposed to, as Draco wasn't perfectly happy. Although, she'd never seen them look confused as well as sad at the same time. She hadn't been aware they could cope with more than one emotion at a time. "I mean, you should see the amount of stuff Father's got saved up from the old days. Most of it's in that chamber under the entrance hall, we snuck in there one time and you wouldn't believe what we found... Hey, what's up with you two? You're acting kind of odd." So, Draco wasn't as unobservant as Ryua had thought. Of course, you'd have to be a real idiot to miss the expression of joy followed by consternation cross Crabbe's face.

"Medicine for my stomach!" he grunted as the two of them ran out the door. Was it just her imagination, or was Crabbe's hair a warmer colour than usual? Huh, must just be a trick of the light. Although, they were both acting rather strange.

"Hey, Ryua, did you know Goyle has glasses?" Draco said as he walked over to her.

"Glasses, him? What are you talking about?"

"I found them talking with the Gryffindor Prefect outside the common room, and Goyle was wearing a pair of round spectacles. The things you discover, eh?"  
  
Author's Note: Okay, so Harry didn't forget the glasses in the book. Too bad, I wanted to put it in. (and I have the movie, not the book, so guess which one is easier for me to remember) And I also rewrote the Trio's conference, and rearranged Draco's interrogation. (again, I've only got jot notes from the book to go on, and what I can remember from it and the movie)  
  
Thanks to Athena Diagon Cat for faithfully reviewing. And yes, I did forget the firecracker in Draco's cauldron, thank you so much for reminding me. Although I've got a problem: All the copies of COS are signed out, and I can't remember when Justin gets petrified. So, I'll stick it in somewhere before Hermione's turn, and hope for the best.  
  
And, feel free to review, even if it's only to say you read it. It makes me happy, and I'll curse you if you don't. I know some very nasty ones...


	25. Valentines' Day

As much as I would like to, I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters (Except Ryua), most of the places, or the majority of the spells. I'm trying to follow the books' storyline, not the movies', but I can only get them at the library off and on, same as internet access. Updates will be kinda random, but they will keep coming, especially if I know people read my story. So please review? Or I'll send you an unforgivable curse by howler...  
  
Valentines' Day  
  
Ryua couldn't believe her eyes when she walked into the Great Hall February 14th. It was pink. And pink. And more pink. Lockhart was swirling around in fuchsia robes that impeccably matched the decorations, doling out heart shaped pieces of paper to blushing girls all over. "And one for you, Ryua dear!" Lockhart's eerily perfect smile flashed momentarily before he swept off in a rush of pink. She stared down uncomprehendingly at the piece of lacy pink paper, trying to figure out what in Salazar's name it could be. She flipped it over to see a winking picture of Lockhart, and fancy gold writing saying 'Happy Valentines' Day, my dearest fan!' Ryua dropped it in disgust, and some first-year witch scooped it up before it even hit the ground. She then went all giggly, stuck it proudly on her hat, and went off to show her friends.

Now she remembered the ditzy man talking about a plan to 'cheer up the school'. Apparently this was his idea of a good time. The school did need some cheering up, though. Finch-Fletchley, or whatever his name was, and Nearly Headless Nick had been found petrified in the library corridor just a few days earlier. For three quarters of the students in the school, this was terrifying, but as a Slytherin and a pureblood, Ryua knew she had nothing to worry about. It was irritating, however. It wasn't that she necessarily wanted to go around killing muggle- borns, but it rankled that Slytherin had deemed someone else more worthy than her. It would have even been bearable if Draco was the heir, but as it stood, Ryua couldn't figure out who it was, or why they hadn't been gloating about it. Maybe it wasn't a dark wizard after all, as Ryua didn't know a one who didn't enjoy gloating. Hmm, interesting thought...

Just then, her brother came in, looking so revolted by the color Ryua thought he might puke. Actually, he wasn't the only one, as Professor Snape looked ready to poison Lockhart, Flitwick was nearly in tears, and McGonnagal was obviously restraining herself from giving the idiot a detention when they were handed pink hearts. "Ooh Draco, Draco, did Gilderoy give you a valentine yet, Draco? Ooh, isn't he just so handsome..." Ryua trailed off, as Draco went pale with fright. "Oh, come on, can't you appreciate a joke? Although he is handing out pink pieces of paper to his 'dearest fans'."

"Please tell me you didn't accept one. If you did, I might just have to kill myself now." Apparently, Gilderoy Lockhart wasn't someone Draco wanted to be associated with, even by remotest extension.

Ryua laughed at the expression on his face. "No, of course not. But you should have seen the picture on the back of the card. Every time it winked, little heart fireworks exploded in the background."

Draco shuddered. "He's so full of himself, it's disgusting."

"Hah, look who's talking!"

"No, you see, I'm not full of myself. I actually AM rich, talented, and a pureblood," Draco retorted, perfectly serious, "He's just a stupid git with a magically enhanced smile." As the students all sat down, Lockhart stood up grandly at the head table, proudly announcing, (as if anyone couldn't already see) that he had set up the Valentine's day celebration as a special treat for his wonderful students. _Well, this should be an interesting day_, Ryua thought to herself as he announced his 'loveable, charming cupids' would be delivering musical valentines all day long.

You had to give the loveable, charming cupids one thing; they were persistent. Luckily for Ryua, everyone who was at all likely to send her a valentine knew she'd curse them for it later, so she was able to enjoy everyone else's discomfort instead. The surly looking dwarves had taken to tackling the more reluctant students as they kept trying to run away. The second years had just been heading up to Transfiguration when Potter's turn came. He went sprawling, and the dwarf sat on his feet as he sang (badly) a valentine obviously made up by some girl with a serious crush.

Draco sauntered over to kick through his ink-splattered books when suddenly he stooped and said, "Let's see what Potter's written in his diary!" Potter's head jerked up and the dwarf left his legs as he scrambled up to take it back. Draco, however, couldn't find anything in the beat-up old thing and handed it back without contest. _Just a second, I've seen that somewhere, I'm positive of it._ Just because it looked vaguely familiar at first glance didn't mean Ryua could identify it, however. Of course, some teacher came along to file the students off to class just then so she couldn't get a better look at it. Draco said some parting retort to Ginny Weasley which made her burst into tears before he sauntered off to Herbology._Why does he have to be so cruel to little, helpless things? There's nothing wrong with a good, fair fight, but picking on innocent little girls... _Sometimes, Ryua just couldn't understand her brother.  
  
Author's Note: I'm so sorry I haven't updated. First off, I couldn't remember something, and all the copies of COS were signed out, and there was a snow day so I couldn't use the school copy. Then, for the first time I can ever remember, my sister went through a bout of serious computer game infatuation, and I couldn't even type for days. And to top it all off, I had serious writer's block. (Maybe something didn't want me to write this chapter) Anyways, I'll update this as soon as I can get access to an internet computer.  
  
Thanks to Athena Diagon Cat! It's so cool to have someone like my story, and don't worry, I don't think I'll curse you today...  
  
And if anyone can think of any painful sounding, or interesting effect spells, I'm going to need a bunch of them. I'll list your name under the credits. Please? (Just a minute, why am I begging? It's demeaning. I'll just curse you if you don't!)


	26. The End of a Few Things

I'm back. And I still don't own Harry Potter. Or anything else J K Rowling thought up for that matter. Just my name. So read my story, and review it, or I'll curse you.  
  
The End of a Few Things  
  
"What the blazes is going on down there?" Draco was peering down towards the quidditch pitch, where the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams should have appeared five minutes ago. It was halfway into the quidditch season, a crisp March morning, and the entire school was anxiously awaiting the match. McGonnagal strode out of the Gryffindor change rooms, lifting a magical megaphone to her mouth. "All students will proceed to their common rooms now. This match is cancelled. Will all teachers and prefects please escort their students to the dormitories now, thank you."

Ten minutes later, a shout composed of seven outraged voices rose from the center of the Slytherin common room where the quidditch team was assembled. "WHAT?" "Quidditch has been cancelled," Professor Snape said calmly.

"You can't just cancel quidditch!" Flint burst out angrily.

"But sir..."

"We were doing so well..."

"And unless Gryffindor won..."

"By a whole lot..." "

One more match..."

"And we could have won the cup!" Ryua and Draco were finishing each other's sentences, a sure sign they were both furious, something to be avoided.

"Silence!" Snape's voice cut across the myriad protests, "There is nothing I can do about it. There has been another attack." Everyone quieted down at those words, then started talking all at once again.

"Who was it?"

"Do they know who did it yet?"

"If it wasn't someone on the quidditch team, then why was quidditch cancelled?" The last was from Flint, which earned a special glare from Snape.

"Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect, and Granger from Gryffindor. In addition to quidditch suspension, a teacher will escort students to classrooms and washrooms at all times, and everyone will be in bed before 8:00 or will be expelled. And if any of you," and here Snape's voice got very hard and his eyes flicked over the more bloodthirsty students, "knows who is behind these attacks, I would advise telling the authorities immediately. If the monster is left free to roam, the Ministry will no longer allow students to be taught at Hogwarts."

"Well, bloody hell, doesn't that just cap all," Flint sounded utterly dejected, "Team, bed." And they obeyed, even though they weren't much of a team at the moment.

The whole school was subdued after that. The next month of school was dull and depressing, the only time the students had to themselves being after lights out when they could get expelled for it. The teachers were either jumpy or likely to burst into tears (with the exception of Lockhart who kept prancing around like always), there was no quidditch, after-hours study in the library was banned... The only good thing was Ryua didn't have to live with her family. And Ryua's lethifold gave her some freedom. She and Draco could fit inside it, although it was cramped, and because they had nothing to fear from Slytherin's beast, they had no worries about getting out at night to breathe, or fly on the pitch.

In that way, it was kind of fun. Ryua often went out just by herself, and it was very freeing to know that you were the only student to brave the corridors, or to have the entire quidditch pitch to yourself and the starry night sky. Of course, that didn't last either. Towards the end of May, Ginny Weasley was dragged into the chamber, the creature's hissing voice echoing through the walls, silent to all but a few. Ryua looked up from her Charms essay, Parsyl snapping up to a more alert position. "Chamber creature again?" Draco asked, working on his own essay. He'd just realized he had one month to get his marks up to an acceptable standard, and was working his rear off.

"Yeah..." Ryua trailed off, listening, "It sounds happy. Draco, that's not good."

"Oh, come on, we could stand to loose a few mudbloods." "Draco, don't talk like that, you sound like Father. And with a student's death, Hogwarts will close. Understand? CLOSE!" Ryua was just starting to get frantic. "Draco, we'll have to go home. And stay there. I don't know about you, but I'd stay here forever if I could. I... I don't want to go home..."

"Merlin's beard, Ryua, lighten up. You're scaring me." Draco had never seen her this close to tears, not in years. "It'll be fine. Someone'll find the chamber, or the school will be repopulated with only purebloods, or we'll go to Durmstrang, or something, Ryua, listen to me," He reached over to poke her with his quill, "It'll be okay. Just don't get all soft on me, especially not in the middle of the Slytherin common room, alright?"

Draco was right. Two hours later, a representative of the Ministry (which just happened to be Lucius Malfoy with Dobby) and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arrived at the school. The Malfoy twins managed to be in the courtyard as their Father stalked out of Dumbledore's office, Dobby trailing gingerly behind. They watched from behind a tree as Potter, covered in mud, slime, and two kinds of blood ran down the curved staircase and tossed something equally disgusting into Lucius's spotless, white hands. He distastefully pulled what appeared to be a scrap of cloth off of the diary Draco had picked up on Valentines' day and tossed it negligently away. Ryua watched it arc to the side, and land squarely in Dobby's hands, who promptly began to squeak excitedly. "You've lost me my servant, boy!" Lucius' voice reached a decibel level audible across the courtyard, and he drew back his wand, saying, "Avada... There was a small explosion, but not of green light.

Lucius was thrown backwards against a pillar to reveal the little form of Dobby, one hand still raised, standing in front of Harry Potter. Ryua and Draco were too stunned to move for a second, until Ryua started to snicker. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound, and Draco pushed her farther behind the tree, shaking with laughter himself. Having seen Father as a stern, imposing, dangerous figure all their lives, it was an incredible treat to see him sprawled on the dirt, hair and robes all mussed, face a brilliant pink, glaring up at his former. house elf. "You know, he's going to be furious when we get home," Ryua said, gasping for breath.

"Yeah, but I'll just imagine that moment in my mind, and we'll just see if he can curse me with any effect," Draco still had a broad grin on his face, "Come on, before someone sees us."

"Too bad about the creature, though, I would have liked to meet it."

Draco snorted. "You and your creatures. Don't you think about anything constructive? Like styling your hair, or thinking up snide remarks about Gryffindor? Some Slytherin you are!"

Author's Note: Ah, that was fun. And although I can't remember if Lucius tries to kill Harry in the book, I do remember Dobby saving him. So, book two done, tell me what you think, give me suggestions, feedback, even just say "hi, I read it", I just want reviews. Or I'll curse you. Painfully. So... REVIEW! Please?


	27. BOOK THREE: The Ride Home

Yay, third book. Actually, it's really J K Rowling's wonderful books rewritten from a Slytherin point of view, and that means I don't actually own much of the plot. Just some bits at home, and of course Ryua.

I've changed the rating to PG-13 now, mostly because of Lucius. I just wanted to warn you all he's getting crueler, so violence is the main reason.

The Ride Home

Home.

For most people, home is a good thing, a place of refuge, relaxation... love. Not Ryua. The Hogwarts Express was nearly at Platform 9 3/4 now, her second year over, and she was dreading it. Just a few days earlier, she was terrified she would have to stay at home forever, thanks to the heir of Slytherin. Harry Potter, however, had managed to open the Chamber, kill the baslisk (she'd finally figured it out, too late to try and do anything herself), rescue the little Weasley girl, and defeat the Dark Lord.

That sent a shiver up her spine. Ryua knew that as the daughter of a prestigious family of Death Eaters, she should welcome the Dark Lord, and hate anyone who managed to defeat him. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way. He always instilled fear in his followers, but also a kind of greed, or worship, or something. Ryua never felt that part of it. In fact, (and here she muted her thoughts) she didn't actually want him to return, partially from fear, of course, and partially because she just didn't want anyone like that to rule anything, let alone the world. And he'd do it, too. He'd made a mistake before, and would never let it rest. When (for there was no if in her mind), he came back, the world was in for a terrifying ride filled with darkness, despair, and pain.

Pain.

That's why Ryua didn't want to go home. She saw the trees flashing past, becoming more regular and groomed as they neared London. _No, slow down, don't get there yet, I don't want to go home... _Ryua and Draco didn't have a very good home life. Their Father was definitely cut out for life as a Death Eater. Torturing muggles was his favourite occupation, and now that it was illegal, he more often than not turned to his family for entertainment. Oh, he never did anything permanent, and certainly not so that anyone might notice, but he had a terrible temper, an insane arsenal of curses, jinxes, and the like, and very little in the conscience department. Over Christmas, Ryua had finally figured out he'd been cursing mother for years. She'd suddenly realized why Narcissa had a first aid kit perfectly stocked to doctor curse marks, hidden from Father, but not the twins. And they'd used it, never quite realizing why it was there, just glad they had something to soothe the burns and welts they had no defense against.

...this year, that would be different.

Lockhart's dueling club hadn't taught her much, but she'd picked up a fair few curses in her life, and if she could just get rid of his wand...

She'd have to be able to, too. Father was starting off angry, having been humiliated in the Hogwarts courtyard, (by Harry Potter, no less) and had lost a house elf in the process. Her marks were good, but that wasn't likely to be enough. Ryua had gone against one of Father's important (although unfair, stupid, and sexist) rules. She'd joined the quidditch team. Oh, yes he'd be mad, even though she'd done well, smashing Bletchley's record, and most of the previous Slytherins' too. Actually, that was likely to make it worse, especially because Draco hadn't been nearly so stellar and lost them a match.

(_Draco, Hogwarts Express, End of Term)_

Draco was worried sick about going home too, not that he'd ever admit it to Ryua. Thanks to frantic studying (and a little bribery of his fellow classmates), Draco had been able to wrench his marks up to a much more acceptable standard this year. That wasn't what he was worrying about, though. Lucius had gotten wind somehow of the new status of the Slytherin quidditch team, namely Ryua subbing in as keeper. Draco was praying to whatever powers were listening that Father hadn't heard of his help in getting his sister in. If he had... Draco shuddered. No use continuing that thought. He might have felt a little, tiny bit bad very deep down for letting Ryua take the rap, but there was no way he'd face his father about it. No way. She could take a few curses...

Author's note: Athena Diagon Cat, you deserve a medal for reviewing every time I update. And yes, it is far too much fun to take Lucius down a notch, as I hate him more the more I write this story.

And I'm trying my sister out as a beta, but unfortunately, she has one main flaw. She can't be bothered to read the stories. She's got one more day, and then I go back to doing it myself.


	28. A Duel

Yeah, the usual stuff, I don't own Harry Potter, yada, yada, yada, you get the idea.

A Duel

Ryua was up in her room, thinking back on the past week. Miraculously, she and Draco had presented their marks (still intact; apparently Draco learned his lesson last year) without a hitch. Mother had praised their high Potions marks, and Father had let them go with a noncommittal grunt. He hadn't said anything about quidditch, and Ryua felt a small spark of hope begin. Maybe he hadn't heard anything, or had decided to be halfway decent for once and not curse Ryua for every possible reason.

And then, the owl from the ministry came.

Apparently, the ministry had finally wizened up to the fact that Father would do anything to control the Wizengammut and Ministry Council, including threats, lies, and bribery. He received the termination of employment notice in a fancy looking envelope on a fancy piece of parchment directly from Cornelius Fudge, and was quite incensed when he read the contents. By some fluke of chance, Ryua had been out at Pansy's for the night, so Draco and mother got the first wave of anger.

It was far too quiet when Ryua got home. Mother had locked herself in her room, Draco in his,(not that she knew that) and of course, no Dobby to welcome her back. (She missed the elf, but was actually glad he'd stood up for himself. That took guts) She quietly slipped off her floo shoes, dropped her bags by the fireplace for another elf to take to her rooms, and padded off quietly through the heavy air of the corridor. She rounded the corner to the sunroom and there was her father, reading a fancy letter of some kind on the dragonskin couch.

"Ryua," Lucius set down the letter, not even bothering to look up, speaking in a dangerous, soft voice "I hear you've been playing quidditch, against my authority?"

"Um..." Ryua stopped reluctantly, knowing she had no real choice in the matter. Oh, Salazar, she was in for it now, "I was just a temporary keeper for Bletchley..."

"Don't mock me." Now his voice was cold and hard as he turned to face his daughter in the doorway, "You played two games with the quidditch team. You can not possibly think I would believe the original keeper would be out of commission for that long?"

Ryua stood in the door, arms carefully at her sides, unable to speak in her own defense. (not that he'd listen anyways)

"Draco told me about everything, your average performance, how you snuck on at the last possible second when they couldn't make a change to the lineup,"

Ryua was starting to get quite incensed with her brother. Average? And it was his idea anyways! And then a second thought reached her: what could have convinced Draco to tell Father something that could get him in trouble too? Unless... he had no choice...Oh, shite, that's why no one was in sight. That letter must have bad news...

"Well, don't you have anything to say for yourself?" Lucius snapped, hitting the desk and making Ryua jump. He was just rising, wand coming up when...

"Expelliarmus!" Ryua hadn't been idle during the lecture, and had found her wand inside her own robes. Even before Father's wand made it to her hand, she cast the jelly-legs jinx to halt his progress towards her, and realized she enjoyed dueling even for real. As his wand landed neatly in her outstretched hand, a sense of relaxed, easy satisfaction came over her, and she drew back her own for a third spell when...

With a snarl, Lucius broke through the inexperienced spell, moving swiftly forward and hitting Ryua with a vicious backhand swing across her left cheek, his left hand wrenching his wand out of her grasp as she fell.

Ryua spun down, catching herself with her wand, tasting blood where her teeth had cut the cheek. Dimly she could see Father backing up to cursing distance, and she pushed herself up, her sense of pride refusing to meet him on her knees. She'd just straightened out when the spell knocked her back against the doorframe, hard wood grinding into her spine. The spell released and she staggered forward, just in time to get hit with the next one. Now there was no support behind her, and her wand had dropped from temporarily stunned fingers. She closed her eyes, which were feeding her pain-wracked brain nothing useful anyways and concentrated on weathering the curse.

Ryua felt herself blacking out and sank to her knees. Better to kneel than fall down in a swoon. Her father had moved around behind her now, as he couldn't afford to leave curse marks on her front where someone might see them. She was biting almost through her lip with the effort not to cry out or let a single tear trickle out, wishing for it to stop...

Without warning, Lucius lifted his wand, leaving Ryua gasping in the middle of his study and strode off to go mistreat the hippogriffs before he left permanent damage on his daughter.

The abrupt end to the pain hurt almost as much as the spells themselves. Ryua fell forward to her hands, and then opened her eyes, forcing them to focus around the room. Father was gone. Ryua didn't know where, but as long as it wasn't here, she didn't really care. Grabbing her wand, she pushed herself tiredly up, and stumbled out the door. She got up to her room somehow, leaning on walls and rails for support, and fell forward onto her bed, utterly exhausted. Ryua didn't even feel Parsyl move to curl protectively around her.

She woke up to someone smearing cooling gel on her tender back. She twisted up, hissed at the pain, and saw Draco sitting on her bed, just barely visible in the moonlight. Parsyl was nowhere to be seen. "Sorry it took me so long to get over here, Ryua, I couldn't risk getting out until Father went to bed. Now... this will go a lot easier if you stop... moving about so much," he said, for Ryua was twisting around, trying to face Draco.

"You. Little. Coward." Ryua pulled herself into a sitting position glaring at her brother. "What exactly did he do to you that made you betray me like that? How could you tell him, and especially the way you did? If you had left well enough alone..."

"What are you talking about?" Draco's voice sounded high, too casual.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Funny, how you didn't mention your part in smuggling me onto the team, or the fact that I outflew Bletchley ten times over." Ryua winced, falling back down to one elbow as her tense muscles pulled a particularly tender spot. "You're just lucky I can't seem to move properly, or I'd show you just what Father did to me."

"You do look pretty bad. Although, you weren't the only one to get cursed here, okay?"

"Oh, stuff it. You appear to be moving just fine tonight, no stiffness, dried blood, bruises..." She winced as her face pulled against the tender flesh of her left cheek.

"Bruises?" Draco looked puzzled. "Curses don't leave bruises."

"No, but fists do," Ryua grabbed the bottle out of Draco's hand, and started dabbing it gently on her cheek and jaw.

"What? He hit you?"

Ryua gave what could have been a laugh, except for the hiss of pain that interrupted it. "As if that's so much worse than usual. Yes, he hit me, then started in with the usual curses. I almost blacked out, actually, he was in quite a mood."

"Well, yeah, the ministry's fired him,"

For a second, Ryua savoured that thought, then scowled and said, "Lovely! More family time for us!"

"Right. Yeah. Hadn't thought about that... But he wasn't that mad with me, and mother seemed to get up to her rooms just fine. Why'd he hit you?

Ryua grinned, enjoying the memory, then grimaced as it pulled at her still-tender cheek. "Well, I was tired of always getting cursed and not doing anything. I tried to defend myself, and got him with two spells too. Of course, the only reason I got him was because he wasn't expecting it." Ryua's face set in a determined, far off stare and she said softly, "I'll just have to get better."

Draco looked sideways at her, sliding away as a slightly bloodthirsty expression came over her face. "Well, I think I'll just leave you to your planning..." He slipped quietly out the door, leaving Ryua to think about curses and revenge. Which she did, and so slept better than she had for weeks.


	29. Boredom and a Hobby

The only thing I own is Ryua. I wish I owned the other characters too.

Boredom, and a Hobby

Ryua stayed in her room for a week. The purple bruise had spread from her ear, down the cheekbone, and along half her jaw. She'd been taking her meals in her room, Toppy conveying the message that she felt too ill to sit up to dinner. The reality was she didn't want her father to see the pain he had caused, and even though everyone knew it, no one said anything.

By the time it turned a paler, yellow color, Ryua could stand to touch it long enough to put a concealer charm on, and went back out around the manor as if nothing was wrong. The bruise would fully fade in time, however she doubted the curse marks would do the same. They had healed, and no pain could be felt, but two were still visible as pale lines running from her shoulder to hip, overlaying the fainter marks on her shoulder from last year.

Father was apparently feeling much more cheerful now, having found a new placement in the ministry researching curses, and was likely to rise fast through the ranks. He'd found a new house elf from somewhere, but it was even meeker than Dobby. Toppy was training him, but it was likely to take a while, and it meant that even the house elves were tired and short-tempered. So Father was the only one in the house remotely cheerful at all.

Ryua sighed. The week she spent immured in her room gave her ample time to finish her homework, and it's not like she had loads of friends to owl or anything like that. Pansy only ever wanted to talk about silly crushes, or gossip, or things going on in her life that were so horrid. _Hah, _ Ryua thought to herself, _She has no idea what suffering actually is. If she thinks not being allowed to buy a fifteenth shade of pink nail polish is drama, I'd like to see her try my life _

Ryua was out of things to do, in other words. She didn't care about Pansy's gossip, she'd finished her essays, and sent off her class requests. (She'd gone for Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy in addition to the regular classes) Now, all she could do was torture herself with images of school; the familiar common room, the majestic Great Hall, Snape's orderly Potions room, and the quidditch pitch.

Quidditch. That's what she was missing the most, other than being away from Father and his unpredictable moods, of course. Ryua missed the feeling of the sleek walnut handle, the wind in her hair, the exhilaration of the game itself. She knew better, however, than to ask to practice with Draco in the south meadow. In fact (and she hated herself for her cowardice), she didn't even dare to risk sneaking out at night. That would just be asking for trouble, and she really didn't need any more of that.

So, she took to exploring the library. It was mostly full of dark tomes that would have earned a place on the restricted shelves at Hogwarts, but that was fine by Ryua. Father might not want Ryua to play quidditch, but she was expected to either marry or become a Death Eater someday. She really had no ambition to take the first action as mother had, since it hadn't seemed to get her a particularly good life. Ryua didn't think that any of her perspective 'suitors' would be any different either. Eew. She suppressed a shudder at the thought of marrying Crabbe or Goyle, and even the best of the lot, Blaise, wasn't exactly her idea if a lifemate.

So that left the second option. Which meant she had all the free time she wanted to study up on curses, forbidden potions, hexes, jinxes, torture methods... Father had no shortage of information on this.

Oddly enough, she really enjoyed the reading. She could easily pronounce the spells, even the longer chanted ones, practicing after leaving her wand in a warding circle so she wouldn't blow up the house or something by accident. She often went out on the grounds, practicing the less cruel ones on the pesky gophers who kept digging up the lawn in spite of the ward spells against them. Ryua memorized lists of potion ingredients, meaning to ask Professor Snape about them when she got back to school, and studied jinxes and hexes voraciously. In fact, she was in the process of teaching Draco a decent shield spell so they could duel properly, continuing where Lockhart had left off. Of course, she had to do this while Father was at work, as he would likely punish her deeply for it. Funny, she was encouraged to learn dark spells, but not practice them. Father must think if she never practiced, she couldn't use them against him.

Fat chance. Ryua would get him someday, but she was no fool. She'd bide her time until she was ready, and endure his random fits of violence quietly. His time would come.


	30. The Dementor

I wish I owned Harry Potter. This does not mean that I do.

The Dementor

Ah, finally.

Ryua was getting away from her parents at last. They'd picked up schoolbooks earlier that week, and were just getting their trunks loaded now onto the Hogwarts Express. Father, of course, was no fun to be around, having cursed Ryua three more times since he got fired. Mother had been acting the martyr again, encouraging Ryua to just keep her place in the household so they wouldn't have to endure Father's fits. _Keep my place in the household? _ she had thought, _not a bloody chance, not with his definition _ The only reason they hadn't dropped her off at an orphanage at birth was because she happened to be firstborn. That was one of the first rules she could remember; never say she was firstborn, act properly, and she could stay a member of a rich, prestigious family. Actually, it could be worse. Father needed her healthy and beautiful to marry off to some other rich (probably stupid and ugly) pureblood, so he never did anything to jeopardize that. She had a healthy allowance, which she was currently funneling into her own account, untouchable by the rest of her family. And, she never had to deal with the really irritating people in life. If glaring down her nose at some upstart wizard didn't get her where she wanted, all she had to do was suggest they ask her Father about it. She could get just about anywhere in the ministry, most of Diagon Alley, and was one of the few people who could walk safely down Knockturn Alley.

Of course, it also meant she was stuck in Slytherin with her brother (she was still furious with him about betraying her) and his cronies and of course, Pansy and Millicent for dorm mates. Not the best company, either for chatting, homework, or much else for that matter. Well, she doubted any of them were taking arithmancy at least, so she should have some peace and quiet.

When they got on the train, Ryua and Draco were still early enough to have their choice of cars. They settled down in one, joined later by Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Millicent at the other end of the car. After the train got underway, Draco left to go bug the Gryffindors, but came back almost immediately, looking disappointed. "They picked the one car with a teacher in it," he grumbled, sitting down with a huff.

"A teacher? Probably there to protect against Black, eh?"

"Maybe. You'd have to be crazy to attack the Hogwarts Express, it's got so many warding spells on it, but he is mad, I suppose." Both of them were kind of in the dark about Sirius Black. They knew he was a cousin, on their mother's side, and that he was a very skilled wizard, having blown apart a street like that, but there were some disturbing problems about the whole thing. He had been in Gryffindor, for the first, and was disowned from his family by his third year. And, the most obvious problem, he was never a Death Eater. From bits Father had said, the Dark Lord had approached him once or twice through lesser minions, but never succeeded in turning him. (The amusing thing was that Father knew no more than his children about this. None of the Death Eaters did.) No one could figure out why he'd bother killing his best friend, although it did make him kind of a hero in some eyes, going all dark and ruthless like that. Something just didn't fit, and if the Malfoys didn't know about it, there was really something strange going on.

The conversation ground to a halt, both twins looking out the windows into the wet, gloomy countryside, as they drifted off in thought. It was just starting to get dark, still half an hour out of Hogwarts, when the train started to slow. "We're early. Something's wrong." Ryua said, starting to sit up. Even Crabbe and Goyle were sluggishly getting to their feet. They saw something out the window, and without warning, took off through the far door faster than Ryua had ever seen them move, Pansy and Millicent following.

"What the... Crabbe! Goyle! Where do you think you're going?" Draco got up to go after them when suddenly, the outside door opened. A wave of cold darkness swept in. Draco froze, then shuddered, then broke into a run out the other door, not even looking back to see if Ryua was following.

Ryua wasn't following. Her instincts had been telling her to run from the moment Crabbe and Goyle had looked out that window, but she was stopped from doing so, by of all things, a leg cramp. She'd been sitting with her knees propped against the seat in front of her, and her left foot was completely numb, the leg tingling, unable to support her weight. She was trying to shake it out, pulling herself frantically along the row of seats when everything started to fade, and she slipped, the world dissolving in a white fog...

Ryua was five. It had been raining all day, and she and Draco had been allowed out to play in the damp, clean grass. Instead, they'd found a mud puddle twenty feet long, and so came in plastered with muck. Father had berated Draco about getting his clothes in such a state and sent him upstairs to change. Ryua, he made sit down at a table and pick up a sharp, steel-gray quill. She was to write "I will act as befits my station" five hundred times. Obediently, she put the quill to parchment and gasped as her words were drawn in fine lines over the palm of her hand _the palm, so no one would see_ "Father, it hurts!"

"Yes Ryua, it does. That is because you did wrong, and must now learn your lesson..."

She was seven. She and Draco had stolen one of Father's brooms and flown around the south meadow for a while. The moment of happiness had evaporated when they came back inside, and were both facing punishments. Father was standing in a shadowed corner, his voice cold as he uttered a spell. The little girl in the center of the room let out a sob, tears rolling down her cheeks as it struck her. _No, don't let him see it hurts, he'll only make it worse... _

Image after image paraded through Ryua's mind, and through it, she felt every spell, her whole back lancing with pain along forgotten curse trails. She felt her palm catch fire, as the degrading words bit deep into her flesh, scratching the bone all over again. And more than anything else, she felt shame, shame for not being good enough, for not being strong enough, for being so damned helpless. All the negative emotions swirled through her head, and she could think of nothing else, until the mist finally started to fade, and everything went black.

In the next car over, Draco had burst right into the Weasley twins' laps. Luckily for him, they could feel the cloaked things moving about too, and didn't remark on his look of utter terror. Fred did manage to ask, however, in a hoarse whisper, "Where's your sister? You didn't leave her there with those things, did you?"

Naturally, Fred and George would understand about being a twin, and it was one of the few times you could trust them to be talking straight to you. Draco just gulped, he couldn't bring himself to admit he'd run like a scared rabbit.

They glared at him, and he cringed with shame, at least until the cloaked figures swept their car too. It didn't stay long, however, but all three of them were trembling in their seats by the time the lights came on and the creatures left.

Ryua came back to herself with the flickering of lights in the car. She pushed up off the floor, shaking her head to clear the last fading echoes in her mind, and, (she was slightly embarrassed) wiped her cheeks dry. Apparently, no one else seemed ready to move back to the car yet. She was entirely composed again, ready to greet Draco with a haughty glare for deserting her, although she felt deathly cold. Draco winced under her stare, and, sitting down and pulling his knees up to his chest, looked out the window. Only then did Ryua sink to her own chair, but couldn't resist the urge to curl up in a small ball too. That feast had better be good. She needed to warm up badly.

Author's Note: Sorry, yet another depressing chapter. Thanks to my latest reviewers, dragonwing () and Athena Diagon Cat. It really makes your whole day to see someone has read something you created and enjoyed it. If anyone has suggestions, or something they'd like me to put in, please let me know.


	31. Dreams

I don't own Harry Potter. :(

Dreams

Well, this was more like it. The Great Hall was as warm and welcoming as ever, floating candles illuminating the tables under a stormy ceiling. Ryua sat down in her seat, still feeling numb in her extremities and frozen everywhere else. Luckily, she often had a frosty attitude, especially when she was hungry, so no one commented. She waited through the sorting, barely noticing the fourteen new Slytherins who made themselves at home along the worn benches. Dumbledore made some speech about the Dementors guarding the gates _So that's what they were _ and introduced Lupin, some shaggy looking wizard and Hagrid as the new teachers.

"Finally," Ryua muttered when Dumbledore sat down and food appeared on the golden plates. The thick, delicious soup disappeared quickly, followed by biscuits, chicken, carrots, and numerous other dishes as Ryua tried to warm up. Nothing had much of an effect, however, until the dessert. A rich, fudge-laden brownie pudding concoction appeared on each of their plates, and with the first bite of chocolate, Ryua felt a tingle of warmth start through her. She wasn't the only one, either. All through the Great Hall, one could hear people sighing with pleasure as the chocolate dessert chased the remnants of Dementor chill out of the students.

The common room was as cold and dark as ever, but the chocolate buzz managed to keep everyone's spirits up, until they all separated into their dorms. Then, it ended. Ryua's dreams were haunted by images of her life, and dark, cloaked beings trying to claim her as their own. She tried to escape, groping for her wand, unable to cast spells, cornered by Dementors, her Father, the Dark Lord, all intent on catching her. She couldn't find her wand, and they were telling her to do things, hurting her, and she couldn't stop them. Don't cry, don't let them see you're scared, don't let them win... but they would. They always did, and there was nothing she could do...

Ryua sat bolt upright in bed, stifling a scream as she felt someone's hand on her arm. She looked in panic, trying to penetrate the gloom, and heard a voice say, "Relax, Ryua, it's just a dream, okay?"

"Pansy?" She'd never struck Ryua as the kind to be caring.

"Lumos." Pansy's face flickered into view. "Yeah. Listen... um, you know... these dreams, where do they come from?"

"Dreams? Plural? What do you mean?"

"This isn't the first time you've woken me up in the middle of the night, you know."

Ryua's gut clenched. If someone knew, knew what went on... "And... what was I saying? You know, in my dreams?"

Pansy grimaced, then looked sad. "I'd always figured it was just my life that sucked. Some money, pure blood, and an old-fashioned family too involved in the dark arts. And I'd always thought you had it all; talent, money, respect... But Merlin's beard, Ryua, you did end up with some drawbacks to your wealth, didn't you?"

It was the closest anyone had ever come to understanding Ryua's life. She could read between the lines as easily as Pansy, and neither one would actually say it. You never talked about that sort of thing, but after that, Ryua and Pansy were always just that little bit closer, connected in a way neither wanted to think about, but couldn't just ignore.

Author's note: Hmm, I'm in a hurry to upload this, so sorry if it's a bit odd. I might read it over again some other time.

If you've reviewed my last chapter, I appreciate it, but I'm writing this before I get online, so I don't know.


	32. Arithmancy

Someday, I'll own something of great worth. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns that.

Arithmancy

Ugh. As much as Ryua hated her home life, at least her bedroom was warm. Even still during the warmer months, the Slytherin dorms were cold in the mornings, and would only get colder as the year went on. She untwisted sheets that had got tied up during the night, and padded down to the bath rooms. Ryua always enjoyed soaking up the heat from the showers, the only warm thing in the dungeons.

Classes started today. And, the first class was Arithmancy. This day looked a lot more promising than yesterday. No dementors in the school, a new class, and it wouldn't have her brother, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, or Millicent in it. Ryua dried herself with a quick charm (one of the few she could get to work properly) and got into school robes, ready to start her term.

Sure enough, breakfast was a cheerful affair, even at the Slytherin table. Most of them were enrolled in Food Spelling, a class Ryua wasn't in the least bit interested in. Everyone else picked it because of the fact you got to eat whatever you charmed, but Ryua didn't want another charming course. The mandatory one was more than enough. She helped herself to scrambled eggs and bacon, not looking over at Crabbe and Goyle, who had already managed to get covered in syrup, toast crumbs, and bits of egg.

Arithmancy took place in a smallish classroom in the north wing. Professor Sinistra wasn't there yet, so Ryua leaned against a wall, watching the students milling about. It was mostly Ravenclaw students, and Ryua spotted Padma Patil talking with a group of her friends under a window. She was the only Slytherin present, with a smattering of Gryffindor to fill out the class size. In fact, Granger came dashing around the corner, out of breath, looking relieved to see students still outside. Professor Sinistra came around the other corner then, and everyone stopped their conversations and filed into the classroom. It was round, the ceiling one complete skylight, probably had been a solarium before Hogwarts became a school. Ryua smiled at that. The sunlight streaming in guaranteed a nice, warm classroom, something she always enjoyed. Charts lined the walls, (or wall, it was an unbroken circle except for the door) and the two-person desks were arranged around the teacher's desk in a double circle.

"Please have a seat, students. And if you wouldn't mind," Professor Sinistra said, "sit next to someone you can work with. It saves me the work of having to assign work partners."

A teacher with a sense of humor. That was a first, unless you counted Lockhart (Ryua did not). Padma immediately plunked down next to one of her friends, eliminating the only person Ryua had ever spoken with. Actually, nearly everyone was paired up immediately, leaving only a few students left. "Very well, Mr Poucette, next to Miss Laundreau," Professor Sinistra paired off two Ravenclaws (as head of the house, she naturally knew them) "And Miss... Malfoy, correct? In front here, please."

She was indicating a seat next to Granger. Ryua didn't quite sigh as she moved to sit next to the Gryffindor she knew only by reputation. Hermionie Granger, the most incredible teacher's pet to hit Hogwarts in 50 years (Actually, the last teacher's pet to get marks that high was the Dark Lord, but Ryua doubted Granger would appreciate that comparison). She felt a little automatic revulsion at the thought of working with a muggle-born, then fiercely stamped it out. That was her Father talking, and she wanted no part of it. Ryua smiled as she sat down, slinging her bag over the back of the chair. Granger didn't say anything, but she didn't edge away or make a face either.

Arithmancy was actually cool. The lesson for the day involved taking the name of their partners and assigning the proper numbers for the type of reading they were doing. Professor Sinsitra projected the chart for base personality traits, and set the class to work. "H, E, R, M, I, O, N, E." Granger had to spell out her name, as there was no chance of Ryua actually spelling it on her own. She set to work, having nearly twice the letters to decipher as her partner but refusing to be slow.

"Alright." Ryua set down her quill with a flourish, "Took me bloody long enough, but here's your results. You've got an active mind, and can easily understand even the most abstract ideas. However, you sometimes worry about things others find completely simple, as you can have problems understanding practical concepts. Although you can be difficult to get along with due to your strong beliefs and values, you make an excellent friend to those worthy."

Granger just stared. "Eerie. That's so much more accurate than Trelawny's tea leaves. Alright, your turn. You are a loner, having different ideas than the majority of your peers, but feel you have little choice in the matter. You enjoy what you do best, sometimes with a fervor which puts others off, but you don't need their approval. Although can you appear harsh, even cruel, you have a distinct sense of honor, and would never do something immoral, or let yourself or anyone else be slighted."

Ryua was just quiet. _Weird. That is just too weird. How did she get all that from my name? _

"You... you're not really that much like your brother, are you?"

Ryua snorted, remembering Draco betraying her to Father, leaving her to Dementors, and said, "Not a whole hell of a lot, no." She smiled. "Nice of you to notice. Maybe you aren't so bad, for a Gryffindor."

"What, the muggle blood doesn't worry you more?"

"Hmm... no, not really. Purebloods have more to be ashamed of anyways."

Grang-Hermione actually grinned. "I don't know. I've met some pretty nice purebloods."

Ryua decided she'd like Arithmancy.

Author's note: That last chapter was completely random, as I'd originally intended it to be this chapter. The interesting thing is that Athena Diagon Cat had wondered if Ryua would ever become friends with the Slytherins, and I hadn't found out until after I'd uploaded the chapter. Weird, eh?


	33. The Afternoon

Someday, I'll own something of great worth. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns that.

The Afternoon

Ryua and Hermionie left Arithmancy together, chatting about the lesson. Both were very enthusiastic about the new course, and Ryua was going over plans to see if her brother's name turned up very different results. Hermionie suddenly clapped a hand to her forehead, and said, "Oh, Merlin's beard, I forgot my bag. Just go on to lunch, I'll see you in potions," and walked back to the classroom.

Ryua shrugged and went down to lunch. Ten minutes later, Hermionie finally arrived in the Great hall. Oddly enough, she came through the east door, at the tail end of a group of Hufflepuffs. _Strange, _Ryua thought, _I don't recall any Hufflepuffs in our class. And how did she get to the east wing from Arithmancy anyways?_ Unfortunately, she wasn't going to get a chance to ask, as they didn't have Potions or Arithmancy again for a few days. Crabbe and Goyle came and sat down, pockets full of what looked like sugar-coated quills, pebbles, and numerous other small objects. "What have you been up to?" Ryua asked as Draco joined them.

"Food Spelling really is all it's cracked up to be. You really should have signed up, you know. We learned this excellent spell, it turns anything you want into candy..." Draco kept talking, obviously on a sugar high, "It turned out to be a charm even the goons can do, but they just mugged half of the Hufflepuffs for theirs anyways..." He was still talking, "We have to be careful using it out of class, though, Professor Specht said he'd expel us if we turned a first year or something valuable into candy..." Merlin's beard, she'd finished two sandwitches and he still hadn't shut his mouth.

"We've got Care of Magical Creatures after lunch, right?" Ryua asked, loud enough to cut across his hyper chatter. This did stop the praise of candy charms speech, but didn't stop the talk.

"Yeah, should be kind of interesting, eh? But I doubt it'll be any good with that oaf Hagrid teaching it..."

Ryua gave up, and just went downstairs to get her Monster Book of Monsters. Oh, great, it was acting up again, having migrated from her messed up drawers to her bed. For some reason, it liked Parsyl, and would occasionally calm down for her. Unfortunately, Parsyl hated the book, as it had a nasty habit of trying to eat her tail, and she was nowhere to be seen. Ryua pounced on it, tying it up with the sash from her housecoat, and said, "Thanks Parsyl, you were really helpful," to the empty room. She stuffed the still struggling book into her bag and went up to the entrance hall. Draco's sugar rush had worn off, as he was no longer vibrating. Apparently, wrestling his own book had taken care of the extra energy.

The sun shone on them as the Slytherins made their way across the grounds towards the small Gamekeeper's hut for their lesson. Not five minutes later, they were joined by the Gryffindor third years. Ryua saw both groups sigh, obviously frustrated with yet another class together. Hermionie gave her a small smile, however.

Hagrid came out of the hut to meet them all, obviously very cheerful about his first lesson. "Now, the firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books..."

"How?" Draco's voice came clear and arrogant over Hagrid's.

"Eh?"

"How do we open our books?" he repeated. Ryua had to admit, he had a point.

"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em!"

Well, that explained how Parsyl had opened it. She must've slithered over it one night, but unfortunately, it didn't last long, and Ryua hadn't been able to convince Parsyl to go near it again. Draco was talking again. Actually, if it wasn't so cruel, it would be almost funny to see such a pathetic, whiny little kid intimidate such a big, strong professor. He lumbered off into the Forbidden Forest, coming back a moment later leading a dozen hippogriffs. They looked oddly different from the ones at home, though Ryua couldn't guess why.

"Hippogriffs! Beau'iful, aren' they?" Hagrid was back to being confident and excited again. Unfortunately, he lost his momentum briefly asking for volunteers, as no one seemed keen to get closer to them. Ryua was actually about to volunteer when Potter stepped forward, much to the excitement of his classmates. From what she could gather, his death had been foretold in Divination, or something like that. He didn't exactly look confident either, but was obviously determined that his friend's first class would be a success. _Nice of him... _

"Now, the firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do." Hagrid was cheerfully lecturing a rather pale looking Harry as he pushed him into the paddock.

_Proud? Easily offended? Our hippogriffs are meek and obedient. What's he talking about? _ Then she got it. Just like he was trying to do with his children, Lucius had simply beat out all possibility of rebellion. Well, these hippogriffs weren't in the slightest bit meek. The one called Buckbeak was staring Potter down with a glare akin to a Malfoy, clearly measuring him up. Then, to everyone's surprise, especially Potter, it knelt, allowing him to pet it. Of course, Hagrid then had him up riding the creature, although Potter clearly wanted nothing more than to go back and let the other students take over. When he landed, everyone broke into applause, even Ryua who made sure she wasn't directly in the line of sight of anyone dangerous. She moved up to join Hermionie and Weasley, officially because they had the less crowded hippogriff. "Hi."

"Hi. Oh, Ron, this is Ryua, she's really a lot better than Draco. We've got Arithmancy together." Hermionie was trying to convince Ron she wasn't about to kill him where he stood, but Ryua wasn't actually sure she was getting through to him.

"I guess you probably hate me, from the look on your face. Honestly, though, I don't have anything against you or Hermionie. And anyways, it's just a name thing, right? Some family feud my Father is intent on continuing has nothing to do with me. I wouldn't mind having some intelligent, decent human beings for friends." Ryua held out her hand.

Ron took it. Gingerly, but he took it. Ryua smiled at him, relieved she had been able to speak with someone else and get a positive response. "Now, lets go be very polite to this beautiful chestnut creature standing so majestically beside us." She wasn't about to let her day get cut short by having an arm ripped off.

Of course, Draco had no such plans. He hadn't been paying attention to the lecture, and assumed these were hippogriffs who had been beaten into submission. Ryua just heard "...you great ugly brute?" from Draco's direction, and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"What an idiot," she muttered, turning to face him. Well, it was a lot of blood, so she could actually understand his screams of panic and pain. Hermionie opened the gate as Hagrid scooped him up and ran off with great loping strides to the castle. "Just great. Wonderful. Just what my day needed to finish it off. Nice to meet you, Ron, I'll see you both around sometime, but I've got to go act sympathetic towards my useless brother. Bye!"

Author's Note: I've been completely unable to find names of people in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin. I've therefore borrowed some from people. If anyone feels like becoming a student in my books, please send in a name (or two or three) and I'll write you in eventually. It would be nice to have a full quidditch team, for example.

And Food Spelling is a class I made up. I needed somewhere for Draco and group to go while Ryua was in Arithmancy, and they weren't in Divination or would be at all likely to take Muggle Studies. The teacher's name is actually one from my own school who teaches Food Prep. In the magic course, they turn everyday objects into food, food into everyday objects, food into different food, learn how to present a feast... all that good stuff. Just in case you wanted to know.


	34. Draco's Great Plan

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns that.

Draco's Great Plan

Ryua leaned against the wall in the infirmary a few beds down from her brother, where half the class was simpering and oohing over the big ham. She was really rather disgusted with him. First, he couldn't even listen properly to a lesson, then acted like a big baby when he got cut because of it. He couldn't even insult the hippogriff with any originality. All together, he had made a pretty pathetic performance.

After what seemed like an hour, even Pansy had left, flanked by the slouching Crabbe and Goyle. "So. Let's see this marvelous battle wound that's crippled you for life." For that's what he'd been bemoaning to a rapt audience.

Draco smirked and lifted the heavy bandaging wrapped around his arm. "Isn't it terrible?" he said in a suffering voice.

"You little rat." Draco's skin was perfectly intact, all the fingers working, there wasn't even a scar or a bruise. "How'd she get it so well healed so fast?"

"I dunno. I've never even heard the spell before, but it was something like _Immendio._ And before that, she did this fantastic painkiller spell. I tell you, we have to learn that." Draco was serious now.

"Yeah." Ryua was thinking the same thing, how nice it would be to numb pain, even after the fact. But then, "Oh, shoot. Wait a sec. It wasn't a charm, was it?"

Draco's face fell. "Oh, yeah. Right." Neither of them were great shakes at charms. Their talents lay more in the cursing area. "Still, I bet it wouldn't be too hard to learn, and it would actually be worth it."

"Hmm, maybe you're right. I'll have a look in the library. Coming?"

"Not a chance!" Draco grinned rather evilly. "I don't think I'm up to going up and down all those stairs yet. I'd better take it easy..."

Ryua snorted with laughter. "Well, you always were a lazy, useless brat. Why should it be any different at school? But," And her voice went deadly cold, "If you keep this up into quidditch season, I'll give you a real injury, and take over your position myself."

Draco laughed at that, albeit a little uneasily, as Ryua smoothly turned on her heel and walked out the door. "Hey, keep an eye on the homework for me, will you?" He called after her.

"Not a chance. Find someone else to do your work. I'm not a house elf." She shot back over her shoulder.

Author's Note: Yeah, it's short. I've been writing another story, not to mention future chapters for this one. And I'm still open for ideas, if anyone wants to volunteer some. I've been hitting writer's block.


	35. Her Greatest Fear

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Her Greatest Fear

Ryua was waiting outside the DADA classroom, almost vibrating with excitement. This was her best class next to Potions, and from what she'd heard, Lupin was a good teacher after all. He certainly didn't look tremendously impressive, as he walked (not strode, strutted, shuffled, just walked) in his shabby robes and silvering hair and opened the classroom. "Well, the Slytherin second years at last," he said mildly with a non-antagonistic smile. "Please have a seat, and we'll start the lesson."

Ryua sat next to Blaise Zabini, refusing to have another class with Crabbe as her partner. He was just as excited as the rest of the class, and whispered, "So, d'you think we'll get to tackle that boggart everyone's been talking about? Bet we could take it out."

"Shh!" Ryua shushed him as Lupin started to speak.

"Well class, I'm flattered and pleased you're all so keen to get started. Unfortunately, the last group of Hufflepuffs was too much for the boggart, and I've been unable to find another." He was interrupted by a chorus of groans from the class. "Now, I know you've all been looking forward to a good class, and I promise, you'll have a good year. In fact, I've scheduled the start of Hinkypunks on your next class with me, and you'll be the first to get a chance at it. However, we cannot just skip boggarts. Today will be a book lesson..." he grinned as he was cut off by another round of groans, "Well, I can't skip them entirely. They're a very important dark creature, and one that needs to be studied. I'll be combing the castle to find another one, so you may all have a shot at it if you'd like."

He then launched into a lecture about boggarts. The interesting thing was, it was actually interesting. Maybe not as good as actually seeing a boggart, but he used some very well done wand holograms, and actually spoke like the information was worth paying attention to. Sooner than they all expected, the class ended, and he assigned them a short essay on what they believed their greatest fear was, and how they would counter it on a boggart.

Later that night, Ryua sat in her chair (no one else dared sit in a Malfoy's chair without explicit permission, so she always got the one next to the fire) in the common room, trying to think about her greatest fear. _This is going to be hard_ she thought. She had always suppressed fear, as it simply served her no purpose. Fear would get you in trouble, so it wasn't something you openly advertised. Dread, she understood, and pain, hatred, disgust... But none of them would really do. Hmm...

An image of her Father, face livid as he drew back his wand popped into her head. She shuddered, pushing it out of her mind. She didn't particularly fear Father anyways. She hated being near him, and didn't exactly relish the curses, but fear didn't really come into the equation. No, that wouldn't do.

Then, she remembered creeping cold, a white mist, rattling breath... dementors. There was no doubt about it, she feared them. She could fight Father, or at least hold her ground, but the dementors could get right past her defenses. Ryua leaned forward to dip her quill in ink, then stopped as a final image built itself in her fertile imagination.

It was dark, night somewhere, lit only by flickering torches. She was surrounded by people she knew to be her Father, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery, the Lestranges escaped from Azkaban... the entire inner circle of Death Eaters. The doors were locked, cloaked figures guarding every entrance to prevent escape. She knew they were there to keep her test victim from escaping, not her, but she was still trapped. It was a Death Eater's inauguration ceremony, Draco had already been branded, she'd tortured the muggle on the ground to death to prove her prowess with curses, but the worst wasn't done yet. The Dark Lord strode towards her, grabbing at her arm, trying to claim her as his own, his servant, to erase any thought of independence from her mind...

Ryua dropped her quill, sat back in her chair. She'd never remembered that dream before, although she knew now she had it almost every night. She was not afraid of pain, killing, even her own death, as long as she was free. That's why she hated her family, because of the pressure to be one of them. That's why she was so full of unrest in her ancestral school House. And most of all, she was really petrified about her future. As a dark pureblood witch, she had limited choices: she could marry a Death Eater, or become one herself. The other option was death, and it would be slow, weeks long, and the pain would make it feel years, as befits a blood traitor. She was most afraid of being trapped, of being forced into something she couldn't get out of. Anything else she could live with, as long as she kept some control over her life.

Ryua thought for a long time in her chair by the fire, dark thoughts chasing around a dark mind. In the end, she realized, it was far too risky to relate her fear to anyone, even one who seemed as trustworthy as Lupin. And anyways, she couldn't think of any possible way to make being branded a Death Eater amusing. Resolutely, she leant forward and picked up her quill again. "The thing I fear most," she wrote, "Is rats." Which was complete hogwash, she'd trained them to do tricks, then cursed the traitorous things into piles of ash when they bit her, but she needed something she could make into a believable report. She made up some detailed thing about having Parsyl come along, make them jump hoops she made with her long body, tricking them into waltzing down her open jaws, and other things which would be quite amusing. _I wonder if Parsyl would actually do that? _ she wondered, as she cheerfully polished off her amusing, though slightly bloodthirsty anecdote.

Author's Note: I had so many ideas for the Boggart. Unfortunately, they would all have ended up with word getting back to Ryua's father, or the Dark Lord, since she's in Slytherin and the entire house is full of Death Eater children. If its just images in her mind, however, no one will ever know...

Oh, and I've been trying to fiddle with the formatting on this, make it more reader friendly. Unfortunately, I don't think it's transferring onto my disk properly. If anyone has any suggestions on how to upload it so it looks better, please tell me, ok?


	36. Not Involved In Draco's Great Plan

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Not Involved in Draco's Great Plan

Ryua went down to Potions that Thursday, happy to be back in a class she really liked. That boggart thing had put her off DADA for a while, and Transfiguration and Charms had been as tedious as ever (Although McGonnagal's lecture about animagi had got her thinking...). Hermionie introduced Ryua and Harry (although they already knew each other by reputation, neither reputation was very good), but they barely got to talk before Professor Snape strode in, and snapped at everyone to sit down. The lesson started off good, but then Draco came sauntering in, looking like some movie star hero.

"Ooh, does it hurt, Draco?" Pansy was being disgusting again, slobbering over her brother.

"Yeah." And there was her brother, enjoying it immensely.

"Settle down, settle down," Snape said, barely looking up from his desk. Draco slid into position beside Ryua, which was odd, considering she was sitting across from Harry and Ron, Hermionie one desk down. Oh, wait, maybe it wasn't so odd...

"If you so much as think of asking me to chop those roots," Ryua said in a low voice that only carried as far as Draco's ears, "I will curse you so hard that arm of yours, back when it did hurt of course, seems like a paper cut."

Draco swallowed, knowing full well she meant it. "Er... Sir, I'll need help chopping these roots..."

Ryua hid a small (very small) smile at the look on Ron's face, and stifled a giggle at the way he chopped up the roots. Then, of course, he had to switch roots with Draco, and the look on his face became even worse. Harry didn't look too pleased to be skinning another shrivelfig either. "There's nothing wrong with your arm," he muttered at Draco.

Draco cheerfully admitted he was putting it on for the benefits, pushing over his next few ingredients for Harry to chop.

After the lesson, Draco went over to preen for his audience, leaving Ryua a moment of peace with her new friends. "Isn't he just unbearable? You're lucky you only have him around for a couple classes. I have to live with him full time..."

"Yeah, I guess. A couple classes is all I can stand him, I can't understand how you can be twins," Harry replied, "You're so much more... human or something. Hey, why didn't he ask you to cut roots?"

"Because I would have cursed him, and then he'd really have been in that hospital wing for a few days." Ryua paused at the look on Harry's face. "I'm serious. It's the only way I can get him to take me at all seriously. You should try it sometime." She walked off to drag her performing sibling down to the dormitories before he embarrassed the family name, leaving Harry and Ron to look at each other and shake their heads.

"You know, she's got a point. What I wouldn't give to be able to hex Dudley once in a while... D'you know any good ones?"

"Me, mate? One or two, I suppose, but honestly, I can't imagine really needing to curse your family. I mean, even Fred and George keep it to pranks."

"Yeah, but you've got a great family. Actually, Ryua's got both parents and a brother too, so maybe that's not it after all. I wonder what curse she was talking about, though. No one's taught us anything to incapacitate someone for a week."

"So, we ask Hermionie," Ron turned around to ask her, but she wasn't there. "Odd, she was right behind us."

"Maybe she's learned to apparate."

"Nah, she's always saying how you can't do that in Hogwarts grounds."

"Fine, stamp on my ideas."

"Hey, you have good ideas, sometimes," Ron ducked away from Harry's fake punch. "Remember when you tricked McGonnagal into letting us into the infirmary? Now that was sheer genius."

"Yeah, except we weren't trying to get into the infirmary, remember?"

"Oh, right. Hey, what were we talking about, anyway?"

"Curses."

"Right. Let's find Hermionie before we forget again."

Author's note: Wow, that was a completely random chapter. I just couldn't shut Harry and Ron up. I tried, but they dodged my silencio charm. Just as well, I suppose, I suck at charms. And now I'm the one rambling... Oops.


	37. Quidditch Tryouts

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Quidditch Tryouts

"Excuse me, miss, you is wanted in the common room." A high squeaky voice startled Ryua out of a sound sleep. Her body snapped awake in an instant, left hand grabbing the person on her bed, right hand aiming her wand at what should have been a throat. "I is sorry, miss, I is very sorry. Would miss please put Pucky down? Pretty please? Pucky did not mean to startle miss..."

Ryua's mind came to a few seconds later. "What? Oh, house elf... A word of advice, elf, never do that again. Now, what do you want?" She lowered her wand from the elf's forehead, and let go of its tea towel.

"Pucky is sorry miss, but Mister Flint is wanting to talk to miss."

"Flint? Why doesn't he just come get me then?"

"Because boys can't go in girls rooms miss. They would be burned by big burny traps." Oh, well, that made sense. Now that Ryua thought about it, she wouldn't really want Flint, or any other Slytherin boys walking in here.

"Burned, eh? Well, I guess it makes sense he sent you then. What does he want?"

"Mister Flint didn't tell Pucky, miss. Just that miss had to come out quick."

"Alright, I'm coming, I just have to get changed." Pucky elf-apparated with a quiet pop, and Ryua pulled out a set of weekend clothes. She folded her red pajamas (they were getting tired, she needed a new pair) and hid them under her pillow. She replaced them with a pair of soft black capri pants, and a viridian long-sleeved top. Grabbing her cloak and slipping on shoes, she went quietly out the door, wishing the dungeons had windows so she could see what time it was. "Morning, Flint, what's going on?"

Much to Ryua's surprise, Draco, Derrick, Warrington, and a half dozen other Slytherins were sitting sleepily on the couch as Flint paced up and down. He stopped when he saw Ryua and said, "Well, it's about bloody time! What took you so long, anyways?"

"That house elf of yours just woke me up two minutes ago, so quit yelling. Now what do you want that you woke me up so early for?"

"Quidditch tryouts, of course," Flint frowned. "What, didn't anyone tell you?"

"No," Ryua sighed, "Probably slipped their minds... (Draco slipped just a little lower in his seat) So, these the replacement players?"

"Yeah," Flint had even more of a scowl than usual now, "although they might be replacing more than the graduates if someone 'forgets' to pass on a message to one of my players again..." Draco was now completely hidden behind Derrik on the couch. "Alright, let's go before we lose any more of the morning."

Outside on the quidditch pitch in the cloudy morning light, Flint started bellowing at his new players. "Alright! All of you useless kids who think you've got talent, let's see if you can actually stay on your brooms. MOUNT!" Ryua was already up (although her Nimbus still technically belonged to the school, as Father would never buy her one), and gliding lazily around the pitch. If Father was going to curse her for playing quidditch, she might as well really play quidditch. "Derrik! Malfoy! Grab a bat and see if these wet-behind-the-ears babies can dodge a bludger or two. Derrik was actually a beater, and would be looking for a compatible partner out of the tryouts. Ryua was just intrigued to see if she could knock a few off their brooms.

She did. It wasn't quite as satisfying as cursing them would be, but still quite enjoyable. Her first target went vaulting off the broom, landing in one of the stands. Derrik unbalanced a second, Ryua's bludger tripping his broom against the turf, sending him sprawling. She cheerfully sent another bludger after her brother, noting with disgust that he actually dodged it. Then, he crashed headlong into a goalpost he forgot to notice, causing Ryua to grin.

Derrik sent both bludgers, one after the other, hurtling towards some kid, Bole, Ryua thought. He somehow managed to dodge them both, and Derrik signaled for Ryua to toss him her bat. Almost sadly, she did, but was actually impressed with Bole's skill. He needed a lot of practice, of course, but could be a lot worse.

"Malfoy, back to your goal! We're starting the chasers now!" Flint seemed to be enjoying himself, even though there were only three new players still on their brooms and Draco was moaning on the ground. Two had been taken out by bludgers, and Derrik clearly wanted Bole for a beater. It was up to Flint and Warrington to pick their partner chaser now.

Ryua was back in her element. Guiding the broom almost entirely with her knees and feet, she held her hands ready to catch the small red quaffle. All three prospective chasers were on at once, Flint and Warrington diving in to help or hinder at will, and the occasional bludger sent their way by the practicing beaters. They weren't all bad, Ryua thought, although that one boy must be related to Millicent. He moved reminiscent of an overweight turtle, even on a broomstick, and panicked when someone threw the quaffle at him, diving to the ground with one arm waving frantically around his head to fend it off. With a noise of disgust, Flint caught it neatly, volleying it off towards Montague, a fourth year boy. He fumbled it a bit, but recovered and hurled it towards the goalposts, where Ryua was waiting for it. "Not bad!" she called as she fielded it with her left hand, switching it to her right to pass it back. "Try flying forward as you throw it, you'll have more power."

Montague reached out to catch the pass, eager to try it again, when the last chaser streaked through, intercepting it, and pulled up in what he no doubt thought was a heroic pose. "You'll have to get better at catching, Mongague!" Ryua groaned. It was Blaise Zabini, no doubt trying to show off.

"Fine, Zabini!" Ryua snapped, "You think you can do so much better? Try me." Ryua held herself taught on her broom, her only motion being her hair and cloak blowing in the wind, and a slight vibration from her tight muscles. The entire team stopped to watch, even Draco, who had by now given up on getting any sympathy and had gotten back on his broom.

Blaise grinned, perfect teeth flashing in the brightening morning light. _Oh, great. I had to pick the north hoops _ For the sun had just risen, and had burned away the morning cloud. The sun was almost directly in Ryua's eyes, a fact she was sure Blaise had planned. "Scared, Zabini? Don't think you can fly against a girl with the sun in her eyes?" she called out, taunting him.

"Yeah right. Just get ready, Ryua." _Don't call me that, you little idiot! The name's Malfoy, to you! _ Odd, she hated it when most people called her Malfoy. Oh, well, he'd given away his position, which was all she'd really wanted. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the quiet sounds of the pitch. Mentally, she envisioned Zabini's position, and tensed, waiting for the whistle of the quaffle. There! Ryua leaned sharply to her left, arm stretching out, the quaffle smacking square into her palm.

She opened her eyes and drew it in, crossing her legs over in a decidedly ladylike pose as she glided sidesaddle up to Zabini, who was glaring incredulously at her. She moved right up next to him, and said very sweetly, "Now, don't you feel silly? You woke up so early, showed off your flashy moves, challenged a little girl with the sun in her eyes, and yet you couldn't be bothered to learn how to throw a quaffle. Sad." She threw the quaffle just a centimeter past his ear to Flint, and smirked as he flinched. "Oh, Flint, I do believe there's no real competition for the position of chaser. Montague seems quite competent to me. Since I'm no longer needed, I'll just go to breakfast."

She glided serenely down, smiling at Flint and Warrington's approving whistles, and Draco, Montague, Derrik, and Bole, jeering at the brilliantly red Zabini.

Author's Note: I just had to make Flint a little more likeable. Just because he favors Ryua a bit, however, doesn't mean he's interested in her. He just cares that his excellent multitasking quidditch player gets treated so well she never wants to stop playing.

Thanks to Athena Diagon Cat, Dragonwing, JeanieBeanie33, Annemarie, and Alana for reviewing. It makes my day.


	38. Hogsmeade and Halloween

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Hogsmeade and Halloween

Ryua had to admit, there were some very nice things about being a Malfoy. First, she and her brother had a private carriage to Hogsmeade, as all they had to do was glare at whoever tried to get on board, and they'd suddenly remember they had something else to do. And once they got there, they could go just about anywhere. The sweetshop, Zonko's, the shrieking shack, and the post office had huge amounts of students crammed into them, of course, but Dervish and Banges was different. Although it was packed in the front of the shop, Ryua was allowed in back, thanks to a special note from Professor Snape. He'd been running low on Dragon's Blood, full-moon Rowan bark, and a few other potion ingredients difficult to find in public shops, so he'd sent his favorite student to pick them up from the black market. Normally, this wouldn't be normal operating procedure, but he was a Death Eater, she was the daughter of one, and they were both well known for it. No one would glance twice at a Malfoy buying almost-illegal things in an almost-illegal shop.

And then, there was the Hogshead. It was a lot darker than the Three Broomsticks, but they were the only students in there. Definitely a nice place to take a break from school life. Not to mention, you could get just about anything to drink there, especially with a family reputation like theirs. "Look at this menu, Ryua. I've never even heard of half this stuff."

"That's because about half of it's illegal, especially for students." Ryua's hobby of reading illegal potions books was coming in handy. "See, the Flames of Hades? That's got dragon blood in it. You could actually use it for a bloodboiling potion if you added cayenne to it. And the Spring of Life? That silvery one over there? The silver comes from unicorn blood. Don't drink it, you'll regret it. Actually," Ryua said thoughtfully, "don't drink anything too alcoholic. I doubt I could perform a sobering charm, and Filch would have your head when you got back to the castle."

"Fine then. We'll just have to learn that charm before we come back again, eh?"

"I suppose... Ugh!" Ryua flicked out her wand and cindered a cockroach nearly three inches long off of Draco's leg. "You'd think they could get rid of some of those, wouldn't you?"

Her brother looked down, rather disgusted. "That would be nice. Hey, when did you get so accurate? There's not even a scorch mark."

"Well, actually," Ryua said with a slightly evil grin, "I missed."

A few hours and two bottles of well aged butterbeer later, and with bags full of assorted items from various shops (another good thing about being a Malfoy was unlimited stores of money) Draco and Ryua were running to the spot they were supposed to meet the Hogwarts coaches. They'd seen a sign saying dementors would be patrolling the streets after sundown, and by unspoken agreement, decided to leave before then. Unfortunately, Draco had been taking his time at Zonko's, and the coaches were due to leave in less than five minutes. "Looks like all the coaches are taken. Brilliant work, wonder boy."

Draco didn't even reply, only split off to find himself an empty seat. Ryua just shook her head, and ran off towards the other end. "Ryua! Over here," a voice called from a coach at the end of the line.

"Ron, Hermionie, good to see you. Mind if I join you?" Ryua climbed into the carriage seat, setting hers and Snape's bags on the floor. "Hey, where's Harry?"

"Couldn't come. His aunt and uncle, they're muggles, and about the nastiest ones you can imagine..."

"Well, Ron, it wasn't really his fault, he did blow up his aunt..."

"He blew up his aunt? And he didn't get expelled or anything?" Actually, this was the first about Harry's home life Ryua had heard. Now that she thought about it, he seemed no happier to go on summer vacation than she did.

"Naw, Fudge wouldn't expel Harry Potter. Bad press. And, he was just glad that Harry was alive when they found him. Apparently, Black's looking for him," Ron said.

"Black, looking for Harry? Hmm, well, I suppose, it could make sense, if you believe the Ministry's version about what happened."

"Yeah, we've been trying to figure it out since term started. Hey, I don't suppose you have any insight?"

Hermionie seemed to have only just noticed that Ryua would know about Death Eater movements. "Yeah, what do the um, you know, your side, what do they think?"

"You know, Granger, they're not necessarily 'my side'. I was just born into the family. But," Ryua said, as Hermionie shrunk back a little at Ryua's tone, "It's not actually something I know much about. If Father knows, he hasn't told us. Something doesn't feel right about it though, I can say that much. It just doesn't fit. I think Black must have been either a very low-rank Death Eater, or very high up, higher than Father. I mean, no one seems to know much about him."

"Er, not that we really mind, or anything, but won't you get in trouble for talking about this sort of thing?" Hermionie obviously wanted to know all the information possible, but was good-hearted (or squeamish) enough to not want to get herself or anyone else in trouble over it.

"Only if the people I tell blab it all over the school." Ron and Hermionie inched away from her again. "Oh, honestly, I'm not going to curse you, you're my friends. I do mean it though, about it getting out that we're talking a lot, especially about this sort of thing. I might not curse you, but my Father would." _curse me _ she thought silently.

"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone!" Hermionie assured her.

"Well, except for Harry, of course," Ron continued. Cute, how they talked off of each other's sentences like that.

"Yes, of course. But don't do it anywhere someone might hear you, okay? So, did you bring anything back for him?"

"Of course, we promised him treats. Bet he's still depressed, though."

"Yeah, those relatives of his are real losers," Ron agreed, "But at least he gets to go to the Halloween Feast, eh?"

Which was quite fabulous, as it turned out. Professor Flitwick had charmed flaming streamers to wriggle around the room, which delighted Parsyl to no end as she chased them through first-years' legs. Hagrid's gigantic pumpkins were carved up into incredible shapes, and bats fluttered around, stealing bits of food off of unsuspecting forks. The feast matched the decorations in style and extravagance, with huge platters of buns, pastries, vegetables, chicken, pork chops, sausages, bowls of rice, pasta, four kinds of salad, glittering jugs of juices and punches up and down the tables, and when everyone was completely too full to move, the desserts appeared. Pumpkin, apple, rhubarb, bumbleberry, saskatoon, lemon, banana, cherry, raisin, and pecan pies, at least a dozen different cookies, three kinds of chocolate, vanilla, maple, pound, and bunt cakes, plum, apricot, mixed berry, and pear flans, some candied concoction Ryua couldn't identify, but tasted really good, and of course, twenty two flavors of ice cream. Even the Slytherins were in good spirits by the time several hundred platters of food had disappeared at each table. The ghosts put on some sort of ghastly reenactment of Sir Nicholas' beheading, earning enthusiastic applause from everyone present.

Everyone filed out still chatting and laughing, with a few fistfuls of cookies stuffed into pockets and book bags. Parsyl glided up to Ryua, asking to be picked up before Goyle stepped on her, all proud, even though she had a singed nose. "Oh, did you finally catch one? Well done. Your nose doesn't hurt too badly, does it?" Ryua was always more worried about her snake's pains than her own.

She never got to hear Parsyl's response, however, as Professor Snape appeared and barked out an order to get back into the Great Hall. Turning around, Ryua saw he looked actually worried, always a sign to do exactly what he told you. If Professor Snape was worried, something had to be really wrong. Going back into the Hall, Ryua could see other houses being confusedly herded back too. She sidled over towards the Gryffindor end, and caught Harry, Ron, and Hermionie on their way down from their tower. "What's going on, do you know?" she asked, idly feeding Parsyl a chocolate-orange-almond cookie.

"Sirius Black's in the castle," Hermionie said, a worried expression on her face.

Ron continued, "He ripped up the Fat Lady guarding our common room, the teachers are seriously freaked."

Ryua grinned. "Harry, do they always do that?"

"What? Oh, that whole talking thing, yeah, when they aren't fighting. Actually, it's even funnier when they do it while they're fighting..."

"What are you two going on about? Didn't you hear me? Black's just been up to the Gryffindor common room!" Hermionie didn't appear to have much of a sense of humor about the whole thing.

"Yes, I heard." Ryua frowned, thinking. "Odd, that he'd be able to go through the whole school, and not notice it's Halloween.

"Lights out in ten minutes!" Percy Weasley's voice cut above the chatter.

"Have to go, doubt they'll let me sleep with you lot. Lucky thing you were all at the feast instead of studying, eh?" Ryua walked resignedly off to where the rest of the Slytherin House was settling down into purple sleeping bags. Ah, well, at least the Great Hall was a lot warmer than the dorms.

Author's Note: Now I'm hungry. Why, oh why, do I write about food? I want a chocolate-orange-almond cookie, we made them once, they were so good...


	39. Quidditch, Sort Of

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Quidditch, Sort Of

Ryua woke up, excitement snapping her awake immediately. Today was their first quidditch match, and from the way their team had been playing lately, they had a decent shot at the cup this year. Stepping over Millicent's strewn robes and a box of Pansy's makeup, she padded softly down to the bathing rooms; her own robes over one arm.

Parsyl curled around the base of the shower, eagerly soaking up heat as Ryua turned it on full blast. After ten minutes, she felt sufficiently warm enough to get dressed, although she had to pull a reluctant Parsyl up off the floor. She strode smoothly down the corridor to the common room as her snake curled around her to continue to soak up heat. When she got there, however, things didn't go exactly as planned.

"Morning, Marcus!" Ryua called cheerfully. The captain was having a conversation with Draco in one corner, and he looked up when she called, Draco swaggering out the door.

"Ah, Ryua," he said, "Good to see you up and about. Although you needn't have bothered."

"Needn't have bothered?" Ryua frowned. Flint wasn't the kind to forget a quidditch match, especially one against Gryffindor. "What are you talking about?"

Flint grinned nastily. "Well, surely you must be worried about your brother flying in such a condition."

"Condition? Oh, don't tell me he's still going on about that stupid arm..."

"Now, I can't risk my seeker getting injured beyond repair from flying too soon in such dangerous weather. Hufflepuff's playing today, to give Draco's arm a chance to heal."

"What?" Ryua blinked, not at all sure she was hearing this. "Hufflepuff? But this is our day. We're the ones playing today. We've been practicing for weeks!"

"Take a look outside before you judge me too harshly on my decision, hmm? I don't much fancy our chances in a storm like that. Especially with an injured player."

"Ugh!" Not wanting to curse the one person in the entire Slytherin house she actually liked from time to time, Ryua spun on her heel and stalked out before her temper got the better of her. Well, she had to admit once she got to a level with windows, it was a rather nasty bit of weather out there. But what was a little rain? She wanted to play quidditch. Ryua strode angrily up to the Great Hall, vaguely pleased at the alacrity with which everyone she met scrambled out of her path.

One thing about waking up in time for a quidditch practice, you were one of the first to the breakfast tables. And since there weren't any Slytherins up yet, Ryua decided to go talk to the Gryffindors. "Lovely weather this morning, eh?"

"Yeah, right. You aren't the one who has to play in it, are you?" Harry was just as passionate about quidditch as she was, but was in a bit of an off mood. "Wood's just said you've withdrawn due to 'player injuries'."

"That wasn't my idea," Ryua snarled, causing Ron to edge away slightly, "My wimpy brother just refused to play in the rain, that's all. Thought he'd have difficulty keeping up to you. Not that good weather makes it much more likely."

"You two really do fight a lot, don't you?"

"Hah. You should see us when there aren't any teachers or prefects around. Sometimes, I'm amazed we have the same genetic code."

Hermionie looked up at that. "So you're identical twins?"

"Yep. Kinda demeaning if I think about it too much."

"But, isn't that impossible? I mean, if you had the same genes, wouldn't you both be boys? Or girls?"

Ryua actually giggled at that. "Well, you're right, mostly, anyways. We were supposed to be girls. But, you know how guys have one chromosome smaller than ours?" Hermionie nodded, Harry and Ron just stared blankly. "Well, Draco's just didn't finish replicating, or something. He's only a boy because he's deficient half a chromosome." Actually, it probably was an aftereffect of Father's cursing mother before they knew she'd conceived, not that Ryua was likely to tell anyone that. And it was just more amusing to just say Draco was a genetic mistake.

Harry, being muggle-raised, had at least some idea of what she was talking about now, and grinned widely at the thought. Ron still didn't seem to fully get it, but he was pleased with the news that Draco wasn't entirely as perfect as he believed himself to be.

"Oh, lovely. My housemates are arriving. Well, good luck on the quidditch match, Harry." Feeling much more cheerful now, Ryua walked back to her table to eat.

Outside on the pitch, Ryua was starting to feel a little less perturbed at Draco for whining about his arm. The winds really were ferocious, and it was precarious even to climb the bleachers. She'd given up on an umbrella after seeing the first three outside get blown away, and just settled for her hood. She took a spot at the top of the bleachers, mostly because she didn't want to hear Crabbe and Goyle huffing with their odd version of laughter the entire match long, but also because the box to keep over-excited students from falling off kept the wind off her back. She snuggled right up in the corner, sheltered from the worst of the storm, ready to be a spectator.

It was really an incredible match to watch, full of chaos. She winced as one of the Hufflepuff chasers scored on his own goal, unable to see the colors of the keeper. The bludgers were even more dangerous than usual, simply because they were the same color as the clouds. Someone, Ryua couldn't tell who, called a timeout briefly, probably to tell Harry or Diggory to hurry up and catch the snitch so they could all go inside. Just as they were all struggling back up into the air, Ryua heard an odd scrambling on the bench beside her. She whipped her head around, to see a very large, very wet dog climbing up the support beams behind the other spectators. It actually looked kind of funny, paws windmilling in its attempt to haul itself up, like a puppy begging for a treat. On an impulse, she slid down the bench, and twining her fingers through the fur at the scruff of its neck, heaved it up. It gave a surprised yip, paws scrabbling as progress upward became suddenly easier and scrambled to all four feet on the wet bench. _Aww, its kind of cute _ Ryua thought as it looked up at her with wide brown eyes. She patted it on the head, and slid back over to her warmed spot on the bench.

Not two minutes later, Ryua felt a sudden chill seep into her bones. _No, oh please, not again... _ The dementors had come to the match. She curled up, feeling Parsyl's cool body, the hard bench under her, the icy rain hitting her face and concentrated hard on the tactile information, refusing to let herself sink down again. She was just starting to feel old scars begin to twinge when the cold lessened slightly, and a bright silver glow illuminated the stadium. By the strange light, she could see Dumbledore running down, the last of the dementors fleeing his anger, and Harry, unconscious in the mud as Diggory flew down, a golden glint in his hand, face pale. She looked beside her, but the strange dog was gone. She didn't blame it, those dementors would scare off anything with a sane mind.

"Well, that's our chances at the cup doubled." Draco was almost as shaken as she was by the dementors, and was apparently trying to lighten the mood.

Ryua climbed slowly down the stairs to her brother's seat. "Come on, let's go get some food. The elves'll be serving chocolate for lunch, I'm sure." Privately, she was glad she hadn't been on a broom. Sitting on a bench with her back in a corner was almost too much to stand with dementors numbing her mind. She didn't think she could have done it on a broom.

Author's note: Technically, identical twins share all the genetic code. This means they cannot be different sexes. But, hey, I thought it was boring, so I bent the rules a bit. And plus, I only discovered this after I started the story. It's not my fault the biology curriculum was set up that way.

And speaking of school, I'm writing my grade twelve diplomas right now, so I'm understandably busy studying. Updates have been and will be sporadic for a while, but I'll try to keep it up.


	40. Not Too Bad of a Christmas

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Not Too Bad of a Christmas

Ryua was rather subdued December 17th at breakfast. This was their last weekend before Christmas holidays, and was marked by a Hogsmeade visit to buy gifts before they all went home. Unlike most of the students gossiping in the Great Hall, she had no desire to go home for holidays. She looked up as Draco's Eagle Owl swooped down, closely followed by her own little burrowing owl. His was carrying a large package of sweets, of course, to tide them (mostly Draco) over until they got home the day after, but her owl had a small letter, addressed to both of them in mother's handwriting. Curious, Ryua opened it, poking Draco in the ribs to get his attention.

"What?" All Draco cared about was his Christmas fudge, oblivious to Ryua scanning the letter with growing excitement.

"Oh, put that down, you greedy nincompoop. We're going on vacation!"

"Well, I'm not completely illegitimate, I know this is our last weekend of term..."

"No, you idiot! I'm talking about a vacation. As in a tropical vacation. Apparently Father has deemed us mature enough to go...Hey!" she was cut off by Draco excitedly snatching the letter from her hands.

"No way. This is so excellent. Hey, quit that!" Ryua had just smacked him on the shoulder for stealing her letter. "Although, won't we need like, tropical clothes? Unless we need Hogwarts style winter cloaks in the Dominican Republic?"

"Yes," Ryua said, ever so innocently, "that's why we've been told the day of our Hogsmeade visit."

"Why are you acting so smug?"

"Because mother's sent us money for clothes. Apparently she didn't think we should have to use our allowance."

"Excellent!" Draco reached for the envelope still in Ryua's left hand when her wand suddenly appeared before his nose.

"I don't think so, dear brother." Last time Draco had been put in charge of the pocket money, a delivery of near-illegal dragon skin had appeared on their porch instead of the paint charms they'd been sent to pick out. Probably why mother had sent the money with Ryua's owl instead of Draco's (although, his could carry more candy and so made a better pack-owl). "You can have half, but I'm counting it out. And she did, giving him twenty galleons and keeping half for herself.

"Spoilsport!" Draco muttered.

"Well, if you really think you deserve more than me, you're welcome to try and take it." Ryua smiled sweetly at her brother, although he suddenly became very aware of the wand still held too casually in her hand.

"Whatever." He went back to eating his breakfast, rather like a cat who had just walked into a wall and was having a bath to cover up.

Once in the abundantly stocked clothing store of Hogsmeade, Ryua lost all her misgivings about the impending holiday. She'd tried to convince Pansy and Millicent to come shopping with her, and failed. Which was probably just as well, she mused, neither one had much in the way of fashion sense whatsoever. So, she'd drafted Hermionie to help, who seemed only too happy to do so, Ryua wondering when Harry had gotten his permission form signed. He seemed like too much of a goody to sneak out of the school.

"You know, I love those boys to death, but it's so good to have some girl time once in a while," Hermionie said as they sorted through sarongs and wraps.

"I know exactly what you mean," Ryua replied over the rack, "Draco can get to be really irritating, and he's one of the few you can hold a decent conversation with in my house. Ooh, look at this!" she pulled out a rich green wrap, which contrasted nicely with the black and silver bikini they'd found five minutes ago.

"Perfect! Green really does suit you, you know. Guess there had to be some good in being Slytherin."

"Yeah, you have a point there. But," she said as she added it to the basket, "I refuse to wear entirely green on this trip. I don't suppose you have any suggestions, do you?" she giggled, "I don't exactly wear a lot of color."

"Hmm. I don't really know what you look like in much beside black, green, and silver." Hermionie was staring thoughtfully, one finger resting on her cheek.

"So, where does that leave us?"

"Trying everything on, of course!" And with that, Hermionie proceeded to grab something of every color she could find, ushering Ryua into a small change room.

The Slytherin shyly poked her head around the door a few minutes later. "I don't know about this..."

"Oh, come on!" Hermionie was tapping her foot impatiently outside, "Let's see you, I won't laugh."

With a sigh, Ryua opened the door fully, to reveal a short pink sundress, decorated with pink bobbles, and a fuzzy kitten, with a matching hat and plastic sunglasses. "Where did you get this outfit, Granger? I feel like a two year old in a bad anime cartoon."

Hermionie giggled, then promptly clapped a hand over her mouth as she saw the dangerous glint in Ryua's eyes. "Sorry, sorry, alright, that one was my mistake. Try on the red next."

Ryua spun on her heel and closed the door to hide her own smile at the dress. It was pretty ridiculous, she thought as she pulled it over her head and replaced it with a deep red (she really loved red, for some ironic, unknown reason) something that took her five minutes to discover how to tie up.

"Oh, wow. That is the most fantastic outfit I've ever seen. What is it, anyway?"

"I have no idea." It was some sort of sarong alteration, made out of a silky red cloth that draped and moved in fantastic ways as she walked. It tied once around the waist, the knot above one hip, and split into two strips of cloth after that. They wrapped up around her torso, tying somehow over one shoulder and falling nearly to the ground in a sort of half-cloak. Without a doubt, Ryua knew she wanted it, but there was one problem... "My Father would kill me. Gryffindor red? In an outfit like this?"

"Yeah, that could be a problem." Luckily, Hermionie seemed to think she was just joking, although Ryua wasn't so sure. "I'll check if there's another color... Yep." She came up with a pale sea green, which somehow matched Ryua's ice-blue eyes and white-blond hair without clashing with either.

"Definitely. Add it to the pile!"

"Aren't you going to be the least bit conservative? How much do you have to spend, anyways?"

"Twenty galleons."

"Yeesh, must be nice to be that rich."

"Oh, cheer up. Pick something for yourself out too. It's not like I can really spend it all myself... But that doesn't mean you're off the hook, you still have to help me pick stuff out."

In the end, they managed to spend all of Ryua's money on clothes, everything from bathing suits to sarongs to sun-robes, and even a few tops Ryua was positive Father would never let her wear. Oh well, that's what the chaste, concealing sun-robes were for. They went giggling out into the street, splitting off to the Three Broomsticks and the Hogshead. Ryua found Draco sitting in a corner, trying not to look scared of a rather hairy man who looked to be part bear at the next table.

"Lovely company you're keeping, Draco," Ryua said, sitting directly between her brother and the animalish bar patron, pointedly ignoring the growling breath at her back. Sure enough, it turned away, seeing no use in trying to intimidate her.

"Right. So, been shopping, I see?" he gestured at her bags of clothes and things. He had one.

"Well, of course. How many times has Father given us a free rein with anything? I'm well stocked now." She signaled the barkeep for a bottle of butterbeer, who miraculously sped up to acceptable service speed when he saw the silver she was negligently rolling across her fingertips. Flipping the coin to him and twisting off the top of the bottle, she asked, "What about you?"

"Crabbe and Goyle are not good shopping partners."

"I'll remember that. Anything good?"

He shrugged. "Er, some."

Ryua laughed. "Yeah, I figured that'd be the case. I picked up some stuff for you too. And don't worry, its not pink or girly or anything. You honestly think I'd buy that?"

"Maybe not." He smiled back at his twin. "There're days when I can't imagine what I'd do as an only child."

"Probably fail everything, and end up in even worse trouble than you get in now."

"Ah, but if I were an only child, I'd only get in half the trouble, right?"

"Hah. Maybe, but you'd also only get out of half of it." She chucked as Draco tossed a butterbeer cap at her, flicking her own back at him.

Ryua and Draco had very strange relationship, insults, threats, and actually carrying out the threats were as commonplace as most families' compliments and support. And not that either of them would ever admit it, it was the one thing they would both do anything for. Including when they were both at each other's throats. They had determined early on that they were the only two allowed to bug the other.

Father did not come into the equation much.


	41. The Hotel

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

The Hotel

Ryua stepped off the small, private, air-conditioned plane onto a concrete platform, tropical sun beating down on her head, and heat waves rising from the ground. As the wave of heat hit her, the only thing she could compare it to was stepping from a cold night outside into a warm, lit entrance hall. She found herself wishing she could take off some layers, but knew Father wouldn't think it ladylike to strip down in the middle of an airfield. Fine. They'd be at their hotel soon, and she'd get into something much more comfortable for the heat and humidity. And as soon as she was out of his field of vision, she'd change into something she actually liked to wear.

The hotel was beautiful. The construction was basically similar to Hogwarts; a courtyard, surrounded by walkways topped by multi-storied walls. Of course, Hogwarts didn't have a swimming pool, performance stage, a bar serving tropical drinks at all hours of the day, palm trees, lounge chairs, open-wall construction to take advantage of all the warm sea breezes, or most of all, the east side wide open to the white-sand beach.

"Merlin's beard! This is some kind of a place." Draco seemed just as struck by awe as his twin. Mother looked openly cheerful, and even Father was much less uptight than usual.

"Children, these are the keys to your rooms. You may go anywhere in the hotel boundaries, and along the beach within sight of it. I expect you back before full dark, and if you go any farther, you will both take your wands and go everywhere together. Clear?"

"Yes sir!" they said in tandem, accepting their keys and barely not running up to their rooms. Once they were out of sight of Father, they did break into a run, up the clay-tiled staircases onto the third floor.

"This is so excellent!" Draco was bounding along the corridor like a child at his first quidditch game.

Right alongside him, Ryua was equally giddy. "I know, this is so much better than any holiday we've ever had in Britain, eh? Ooh, here, this one's mine!" she pulled up in front of room 333, sliding the card-key through the lock and opening the door.

Draco slid to a halt and backpedaled to 334, scanning his own key through. "Weird ways these muggles have of locking things, eh? Wow, look at these rooms..." his voice trailed off as he moved inside his room. Ryua eagerly started to explore her own. The bedroom was smaller than the one at home, and furnished with muggle lights, a strange console with a stack of small disks in cases beside it, and something she recognized as a TV, which she curiously poked on. After a few trials, she found the channel switching buttons, eventually settling on a music station, which played a mix of Spanish and English music videos. She tore her gaze away from the hypnotic device, and found her bags already sitting beside her bed, Parsyl quite perturbed at still being in her cage. Ryua let her out, cautioning, "Now, stay up here, or with me, alright? Someone might catch you and sell you, otherwise. Oh, and don't bite the ladies who come in here to clean. They're like our house-elves. They're supposed to be here." Opening her suitcase, she pulled out a viridian one-shoulder bathing suit and a yellow-green tye-dyed sarong, happily shedding her warm England robes. Much more comfortable now, she skipped cheerfully over to the small (although blessedly private) bathroom and twisted her hair up off of her back, using her wand as a pick to hold it in place. Slipping her key into a magically sealed sheath on her sarong, she walked out to explore the rest of the hotel.

Draco walked out at just the same moment, wearing a loose tropical shirt and shorts, also looking infinitely more comfortable out of the heavier robes. "Isn't this so unbelievably cool?"

"Yes!" Ryua giggled, "Although, I don't suppose you know what those weird things beside the TVs are, do you?"

"Video game consoles. You put the little disks in, and you can play on them. At least, that's all I could pick up from those mud-muggleborns in Foods."

"Hmm, we'll have to try those. Come on though, I have to see the rest of this place. Apparently, there's a buffet for every meal."

Draco's eyes lit up even more at the mention of food. "You don't say... Let's go find the food court, shall we?"

They were just in time for the last few minutes of the lunch buffet. Loading up plates of fresh fruit, seafood, breads, and insanely good dessert squares, the twins wandered around the courtyard. Draco noted with great interest the swim-in section of the bar, and the fact that the bartenders seemed quite happy to serve fully alcoholic pina coladas to anyone who asked. Shaking her head with amusement, Ryua dragged him away from the bar, saying, "It would make your guavas taste funny. The bar isn't going anywhere, don't worry."

There was even an entertainment group singing Caribbean music as the hotel guests dined on the outside patio. Ryua happily fed a crumb of bread to the extremely tame, well fed sparrows perching cheerfully everywhere, hoping Parsyl wouldn't eat too many of them. "You know, Draco," Ryua said, looking around their surroundings, "This is going to be some fantastic kind of a Christmas break."


	42. Ryua Masters Muggle Stuff

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Oops! Sorry, people, I've only just now seen what the computer has been updating my stories like. I'd like to say you are all very brave and loyal readers to have kept up with my story regardless of the messed formatting. Now, thanks to quickedit, I can actually make my chapters legible to the general public (which I am slowly in the process of doing). Thank you so much, and I apologize again for the reading difficulties.

Since so many of these chapters are depressing, I am dedicating all of these vacation ones to my reviewers. Sorry I never got around to it sooner, you people deserve recognition.

Ryua Masters Muggle Stuff

There wasn't much time to explore, as they'd only gotten there in the afternoon. Father insisted they all still have dinner together, and it turned out that the whole experience was much nicer in the Dominican with live background singers, and the buffet table offering an excuse to get up at any point during the meal. After far too many fruit squares, half of which Ryua suspected were alcoholic, chocolates, and various other confections following a very large meal, Father released them to their rooms.

"Oof. I don't think I've eaten that much before." Draco was quite contented, although having trouble climbing the stairs.

"Yes, you have. Yesterday, at Hogwarts' Christmas feast."

"Well, fine, maybe it's not the most I've ever eaten. D'you suppose we could get Toppy to make those weird little pineapple things? They were good."

Ryua giggled. "They must have been, the amount of them you ate. Honestly, I can't understand why you aren't Hagrid sized yet."

"Me either!"

In her room, Ryua found she wasn't the least bit tired yet. Full to the point of never wishing to move again, but not at all ready to sleep. Her eyes lighted on the strange black box sitting beside the TV, and she rolled off her bed to take a closer look. It was a rectangle half as wide as long, with the letters PS2 engraved in blue on the top. Two strange things attatched to the box with wires were covered in various buttons, none of which did anything. _Oh, turning it on would help..._ Ryua switched on the TV, and searched for a similar switch on the box. Finding one on the back, she flicked it over, jumping as a little red light came on in the front. Looking at it curiously, she pressed the button beside the red light, pleased when it turned green. At the same time, the TV screen changed, prompting her to insert a disk. Pleased with her success at deciphering the confusing muggle technology, she grabbed the small stack of disks, jumping back on the bed to read them.

_Medal of Honor_, she read off of the top one. Lovely, muggles killing each other in some useless mockery of a duel, not even decent blood or gore, from the pictures on the back. _Super Smash Brothers_, nah, looked more like Crabbe or Goyle's sort of game. _Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories._ Hmm, could be interesting, but right now she wanted something more action packed than a card game. Aha! _Crash Bandicoot Warped._ Some strange little orange creature, neon-colored apples, boxes, numerous creatures trying to kill him... This looked promising. She reached forward and pushed the little open button, momentarily confused by the round spot for the square disk she was holding. _Oh, wait, it opens_. She slid the flat, shiny circle into its tray, and pushed the button to close it again.

"Hey, Draco, come here!" she called to her brother in the next room as the opening sequence started up.

"What?" he came around her door, plopping down on her bed. "Oh, cool! You got it to work? Excellent!"

Ryua was paying him no attention whatsoever, being immersed in the instruction manual. _Lovely, how they have these little controller maps, to explain what the blazes all those little buttons are for. Although, what's a bazooka?_ She dropped the book in her lap when Draco poked her in the side. "What was that for?" she demanded.

"Look!" Draco was pointing at the screen, looking like a kid seeing his first juggling performance. Ryua looked, and was immediately riveted. Some bizarre looking object had just blown up a temple, releasing a glowing ball of light. She turned up the volume just in time for the next sequence, involving a feathery floating mask, two of the weird orange creatures, and what appeared to be a miniature polar bear. The two of them watched as the mask explained how the world was in grave danger and it was up to 'Crash' and 'Coco' to save it.

"Excellent!" Draco said.

"D'you suppose Father would let us get one of these at home?"

"Maybe, if we are really careful about how we ask. Better let me do it, he likes me more."

"You do have a point there. Although, mother might help if I ask her. She seems to like it when I get things, not that she often does anything about it herself. Hey, look, it's stopped now!" Ryua grabbed the controller, experimenting with the different buttons.

"Oh, do that again!"

"Do what?"

"That thing, where he falls flat on his face!"

"He did? That doesn't seem like something the savior of the world would do regularily."

"He did, I swear! He jumped first..."

"Oh! Like that!" Ryua looked up from the controls just in time to catch Crash launching into a spectacular, painful-looking belly flop. "Look, look, I can make him crawl around!"

"Hey, aren't there supposed to be monsters to kill, or something?"

"Yeah, you're right. Oh, didn't that freaky mask thing say something about portals?"

"He did, although, I think you've gotten us lost."

"How can I get us lost? All the gates are covered by some lightning charm or something... Wait! There's an open one!" she ran Crash up a corridor, ending in a room that looked surprisingly like some of the more ran-down parts of Hogwarts. She stepped on a button and a floating orb popped up, with the title _Orient Express_. "Hey, wait! No, I just figured out how to get Crash to move!" Crash had tripped on the button, and Coco jumped in instead.

Draco was howling with laughter, especially when Ryua's little tiger cub ran headlong into a brick wall and lay twitching on the ground. "That is... the most... hilarious thing I've ever seen!"

"Oh, shut up. You try it then!" Ryua dropped the controller into Draco's lap, who promptly squealed and steered the tiger into a gaping hole.

"Ack! This is harder than it looks! Isn't the game rated for little kids to be able to play it?"

"Yeah, that's what it says," Ryua said, looking at the disk cover again. "Well, in that case, we'll just have to stay here the whole night until we can play it, eh?"

"You said it," Draco replied, eyes intent on the screen as he charged into a floating dragon kite and sent Coco and the tiger sprawling.

Author's Note(again): So I love Crash Bandicoot. I'm allowed.


	43. At the Market

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

At the Market

"Be back in time for dinner," Lucius cautioned his children on their way out.

"Don't worry, we will!" Ryua called back as she and her brother left the hotel to hit the streets. It hadn't been easy to pry Draco off of the Sony. Eventually she had to bribe him with promises of goods illegal in Britain that were easily obtainable here.

"So, where d'you think we should go first?" Draco asked, happy to be out on their own for a while.

"First, I'm... losing... these... robes!" Ryua pulled off her long, white, concealing robes to reveal a much shorter white skirt and halter top. She shrunk them down to handkerchief size and folded them carefully into a pocket for when they got back. "Ah, much better!"

"Are you mad?" Draco asked, "Father is going to kill you!"

"Only if he catches me." Lucius had earlier forbidden his children to wear too revealing clothing, in case they looked to 'common'. "And you won't tell him, will you?"

"Well, probably not, but you'll get burned from the sun..."

"No, I used that burn charm I found before we left." They had all learned a complete sunblocking charm, because mother's fair skin didn't agree with the sun, and Ryua had picked up the more selective one on the next page.

"What about a tan then? He'll be furious with you when he sees that."

"So I'll cover up. Those robes work both ways. The only thing he can see is my hands and face, and that's what makeup is for. Once I'm at school again, it won't matter."

"You are either brave, or insane. No, wait, stupid or insane. Take your pick."

"Hmm, it's only stupid if I get caught, right?"

"Sometimes, I really don't understand you."

They had, by now, gotten to the first of the markets. Most of it was just tourist stuff, nothing really valuable, although it was fun to look at. Ryua did pick up a necklace of palm beads, marveling at their rich color. Eventually they managed to drop through the magical barrier into the wizard's market, and things got much more interesting.

"About bloody time." Draco had very little patience for idle tourists, and was glad to get somewhere most of them couldn't go. Only a quarter of the guests in the Dominican were magically inclined, and as a result, their market was a lot calmer. These witches and wizards had translation spells in place, so everyone could understand each other, something the twins much appreciated. Most of the goods here were being hawked from the cloth and palm frond tents, same as outside the barrier, but they were remarkably different products. There were lots of tropical ingredients for potions and complex spell castings from palm heartwood to Man of War poison to full moon-dried salt. Draco let out a low whistle "I've only ever heard of half of these in textbooks. And advanced ones at that."

"I know, and a good handful of it's lethal without even mixing it... What do you suppose those are?" Ryua asked pointing over at a rather exuberant witch showing off bits of rope and things knotted up from a couple knots to intricate webs.

"Dunno. Looks complicated, though."

Ryua went over to the witch, asking, "What are these ropes, please?"

"They're elemental knots, of course! Haven't you heard of them? Most famous ones are the wind knots, even show up in muggle literature. Everyone knows how to make them here."

"That explains it then, I'm from Britain..."

"Enjoying the sun for winter then, are we?"

Ryua grinned at the friendly woman. "You have no idea. The dorms at our school get so cold ... underground, you see."

"Cold, eh?" she raised a dark eyebrow. "Would you like a sun knot, then?"

"Sun knot?"

"Well, it holds the sun's energy, heat and light, although I've got some spelled separately too. You can release it by manipulating the individual knots..." the saleswitch poked one of the tiny knots on the outside of a gold web with a handmade mahogany wand and the pattern of string emitted a pale glow and pulse of heat.

Ryua was absolutely sold. Something to heat her bed, especially if it was something too strange for Millicent to steal for her own use, would be absolutely worth just about any price. Although, she was curious, "So, what other ones do you make? I want one of those sun ones, but what else is there?"

"Well, just about any elemental force that can be captured easily. Lightning, those small ones there, they're good for just one or two strikes, 'cause lightning's not exactly a long-term thing. I've got a couple earthquake knots, those smaller ones there. Many places with more natural land than Britain make 'em. Japan has the best earthquake knots, get just as intricate as my sun ones. And places like Norway and Canada get some wicked good storms and ice webs. It's possible to get life force tied in one, but it's a nasty business, you're likely to end up with serious consequences for making or using 'em. Tidal forces you can tie up easily, they're popular for gardeners or boaters 'cause of their water magic. Fire, much like sun, but I saw a magma one from Hawaii once, more heat power than my entire collection here. Wind, there's lots of variations, they're the oldest knots. Back before muggles got stupid about magic superstitions, sailors used to pay witches to tie up winds for them, the cardinal winds and such. And the main reason us magic folks' homes ain't been wiped out by hurricanes is we wrap up just the part on our property. Them's wicked powerful webs," she said pointing to a stack slightly apart from the rest. "I've got a few fog and shadow ones too, don't get many buying them, no one has much use for 'em. That's all I got here, anything you want?"

Ryua's head was spinning slightly from the amount of information she'd just been assailed with. "How about I take one of each?"

"Sure, if that's what you feel like," the witch said, wrapping up webs in sheets of charmed paper. "I've got 'em color coded, yellow for sun, blue for water, gray for fog, black for shadow, and the brown's earth. The bigger and more intricate the knot, the more power. If you're careful, they can be recharged and retied, if you can get to a source, anyway. Practice with the smaller knots before you go onto the more powerful ones, okay? You might blow something up by accident if you aren't careful. Store 'em in this paper, or something like it, else you'll end up with leakage, and that can be ugly. And, that's twenty three sickles all together."

"Thanks! Here you go," Ryua handed the witch a pair of galleons as she picked up the small stack, "keep the extra, thanks a lot..." She had just noticed Draco about to sample a piece of pufferfish flesh (probably told it was tuna), and ran over to smack it out of his hand.

"Hey, what was that for?" he whined.

"Well, if you really want to eat it, go ahead..." she said as she walked towards the magical gate back to the muggle world.

"Never mind." Draco had learned that if his sister said he shouldn't eat something, it was for a good reason. He jogged after her, asking, "So, got what you wanted?"

"Oh, some. We've got a few days left, I expect to be back once or twice."

"Yeah. Hey, why did you stop me from eating that fish?"

"It's pufferfish."

"So?"

Ryua sighed. "Didn't you pay attention when Professor Snape gave that lecture on natural poisons? Pufferfish is quite a toxic one."

"Ugh! How can you keep thinking about school now?"

"Well, if you would rather I just kept my thoughts to myself..."

"No! I mean, no, it's not that big a deal."

"Thought you might say that. Ugh," Ryua said as they turned onto their hotel's street, "back into those robes..." Swirling them neatly up over her head as they enlarged again, she grimaced at the extra heat the cloth covered her with. "Good thing the dining room's air conditioned. It's so unfair that you get to wear shorts around, and I'm expected to stay in long skirts."

"Yeah, well poopy for you. You'd better pale that complexion of yours a bit, you're starting to tan. Honestly, why couldn't you just keep on the full charm?"

Ryua looked witheringly over at her brother while rubbing light concealer on her skin. "Because, I don't want to."


	44. Back to England

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Back to England

Ryua sighed as she stuffed the last of her clothes back in her suitcase. Their flight back to England departed today, and tomorrow was the first day of second term. And for the first time she could remember, Ryua was sorry the vacation was ending. These two weeks in the Dominican had been just about the happiest she could ever remember being. She would miss the sand, the sun, the funny little man who would cut you up a coconut with a huge machete if you gave him a dollar, the music, the fresh pineapples... and most of all, the complete absence of Father's influence. He and mother had been constantly off doing adult, dignified things, leaving Ryua and Draco with the first free time completely to themselves they could really remember having.

Her eye fell on Parsyl's empty crate, and with a sigh, she set out to search the hotel. The serpent wanted to leave even less than Ryua, as the cold-blooded creature thoroughly enjoyed soaking up sun on rooftops or beaches. "There you are!" Parsyl had just slid down off of Draco's balcony and was winding casually down the lattice of climbing vines. "Hold it right there, Parsyl!" she yelled as she ran down the stairs to the courtyard. Parsyl, naturally, was not at all inclined to go back in her cage to leave this lovely warm paradise, and set off at a tremendous speed for a creature without legs through the gardens. "I really, really have to learn parseltongue..." Ryua thought as she trailed her stubborn snake around the bushes. "Parsyl, come here this instant! You're going to get me in trouble... oh, for Merlin's sake, do I have to set a mongoose on you or something? Get out here!" Just then, one of the cleaning maids rounded the corner.

Luckily for Ryua, this one adored snakes, and had made friends with Parsyl earlier that week. "Oh, Maria, would you please help me find Parsyl? She's gone and hidden in that garden..."

"Yes miss. You go dat side, I go dis side, chase her at you." Maria could speak English, French, German, Italian, and a little Russian, but the only one she could speak fluently was her native Spanish. She'd learned because of the wide variety of tourists coming through the hotel. "I see miss, she on rock in sun 'dere in d'middle. One minute, I get her..." She reached over the fence with a mop, flipping the slumbering cobra off the rock. Faced with what looked like a small, aggressive shaggy dog menacing her, Parsyl slithered quickly out of the garden, right into Ryua's waiting hands.

"You bad girl... Thanks, Maria, you were a big help. Now I have to go finish packing."

"Miss Malfoy leaving? Back to cold England, yes?"

"Yes, unfortunately. I'd much rather stay here, where it's warm, and the people are so nice..."

"Oh, miss come back someday. Now, you go, before she get away again, si?

"Si, gracias, Maria." Ryua smiled as she walked back up to her rooms, holding the reluctant Parsyl tightly in one hand. "I know, I don't want to go either. Think we will come back?"

Parsyl did seem cheerful at the idea, and relaxed her efforts to escape again. She grumbled slightly at being put in the carrier, but still obeyed. Ryua made a few last minute adjustments to makeup and robes, and satisfied she still looked pale as a proper, northern-bred Malfoy should, she strode down the stairs to meet her family. They were all there, the hotel staff just starting to load luggage on their bus to the airport. Father appeared as impassive and impressively rich as ever, mother looked wistfully around the lobby, and Draco looked just plain sulky to be leaving. Ryua relieved a rather nervous looking bellhop of Parsyl's cage (Gracias, senorita...) and filed onto the bus at the end of the family.

She stared out the window the whole way up to the airport, savoring the rush of heat that hit her as she stepped off the air-conditioned bus. Feeling just as sulky as her brother looked about leaving, she sat down at the window seat of their plane, watching sadly as the tropical island dwindled below them. She knew she would have to go back someday, the tropics would never stop calling her.

Stepping outside the airport at London was just as much of a shock as the heat had been in the Dominican, only a lot less nice. It had snowed eight inches while they were gone, and was currently holding at –15 Celsius, and the cold bit right through their winter robes to flesh accustomed to tropical sun and heat. Luckily, the Leaky cauldron was just a short, cold, unpleasant bus ride away as the Knight Bus drives, and they all gratefully stepped through the lovely, warm floo network home. The Manor was just as they'd left it, proud, rich, and blessedly warm.

"To bed children, you will be waking up to go on the Hogwarts Express in the morning, and I expect no delays." Lucius, although he was trying his best to hide it, was suffering from fatigue and climate shock as much as his children. Quite happy, for once, to comply, the twins gratefully off to their rooms, silently thanking the house elves for warming the beds.

The next morning, Ryua and Draco were just getting ready to leave for Platform 9 ¾ when Lucius put his hand on Ryua's shoulder. Startled, and not a little worried, she looked up at him to see narrowed, calculating eyes. "Go on ahead, Draco, Narcissa, we'll meet you there." Never ones to rebel against Father's word, they left through the fireplace.

"Yes, Father?" Ryua said in a sweet, innocent voice.

He ran his finger across the back of her hand removing, she saw with a sinking feeling in her stomach, the layer of light-colored makeup. His face twisted into a terrible expression at the even, golden color of his daughter's skin underneath. "You disobeyed orders, Ryua."

She bit her lip to keep an exasperated sigh from escaping. She was already in for it, without needing to seem disrespectful. _Shoot! _She thought, _I thought I'd covered up enough...well, too late now._ Unable to stay looking apologetically down at the floor, she raised her head and looked at him through ice-blue eyes, careful to keep any trace of fear, hate, or apology out of them. He recognized pride there, however, and was not pleased to see it as he pulled out his wand.

Ten minutes later, Draco saw his sister jogging to get on the train just before it started to pull out. She came through to his compartment, and sat down with a sigh on the chair opposite him, straightening up with a hiss as her back touched the seat. "What's wrong?" Draco asked.

"Sunburn," Ryua said, not looking at him.

"He caught you, didn't he?"

"Draco, keep your nose out of it. I said, it's sunburn."

He took the not-so-subtle hint and stopped talking to her, at least, for ten minutes or so. Then he couldn't resist saying, "I told you so..." He broke off with a yelp and ducked as Ryua blasted a hole clear through the seat where his head had been. This time, he didn't talk again until he was safely back at the Slytherin table at Hogwarts.


	45. Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Gryffindor Vs Ravenclaw

Ryua was berating Draco, Marcus, Crabbe, and Goyle as they all cowered on a couch in the Slytherin common room. "What the bloody blazes were you thinking of? You've lost us fifty points, gotten detentions... happy yet? You're lucky you weren't expelled! Or you two," she said, glaring around at Draco and Marcus, "kicked off the team. And then where would we be? Eh? Minus a seeker and a chaser for the next two matches? Just what the hell were you thinking?"

Crabbe and Goyle, never ones for thinking, just sat there in silence for a second, then Goyle spoke up, "It was Draco's idea..."

"Why thank you Goyle, for being so outright. Now, though, I bet you might think twice about following my brother's orders so blindly, hmm? Oh, who am I kidding, you won't. Now, since I know you two were just doing what you were told, you may go, I'm done yelling at you." Dense though they may be, the two hulks knew a chance to leave something unpleasant when they heard one, and scarpered off.

"Err, it was his..." Draco began.

"No, it wasn't..." Marcus cut him off.

"I don't bloody well care!" Ryua screeched over the both of them. She was still in a bad mood with Draco since the train ride. And Marcus had clapped her on the back on the way to her dorm later that night, causing an incredibly acute wave of pain across the tender skin. Actually, she'd had to soak her robes off once the others had gone to bed; one of the curse marks had been raw enough to bleed through the fabric. Although the school robes were blessedly black and full so it didn't show, she had been unable to dress it afterwards, or go to the Infirmary, as Madam Pomfrey would undoubtedly recognize curse scars. As a result, Ryua had been in a spectacularly bad mood as her back healed slowly for the last two weeks. Even the Gryffindor trio had been keeping their distance, and she actually liked them. Sort of. Now, she was finally letting off some frustration, and took a slightly evil pleasure in seeing the two boys cower under her wrath. "It was a stupid idea, whoever thought of it. There are so many better, more skilled, cunning, dignified ways to sabotage someone! You could have jinxed their brooms, you could have charmed the quaffles, cursed a bludger, poisoned their food, bribed a house elf to spike the punch, shrunk their robes... for that matter, you could have baited the dementors to come there themselves." Draco and Flint were rather amazed at all the strategies Ryua was coming up with even in a blind rage. "You're lucky I don't curse you right now and train Crabbe and Goyle to play quidditch in your places." Ryua's voice dropped down to a lower level that was even more intimidating than the yells. "I could, you know. And you call yourselves Slytherins. Pathetic." Actually, she didn't really want to put either of them out of commission, but rather than let them know that, she just turned on her heel and stalked away, robes billowing out behind her.

The two boys sat as if stunned in place, watching her go. "That is some kind of a witch." Marcus said in a half-admiring, half-terrified tone.

"You're lucky you don't live with her."

"Yeah."


	46. Draco Gets Bashed

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Thank you to all my reviewers. Although, today, Athena Diagon Cat gets the commendation, for reviewing my chapter like, 15 minutes after I put it up. How do you do that, are you online 24/7 or something? It's incredible.  
  
Draco Gets Bashed  
  
Ryua was wandering bored around Hogsmeade. Her back had finally healed up, although she was disgusted to find she'd likely have raised scars from the untreated spells for a very long time. Oh, well, they didn't hurt anymore, at any rate, and she could move freely again, both on the ground and her broom. She did wish she could have found Hermionie, or Pansy and Millicent for some company right now, though. Maybe she'd go see what Draco was up to.

The twins had always been able to home in on each other, at least in a general sense. Once she passed the last of Main Street, Ryua had guessed Draco must be up at the shrieking shack. Sure enough, he was there, along with Crabbe and Goyle, and for some reason, Ron. "Suppose you'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Weasley? Dreaming about having your own bedroom..." Ryua groaned. _You'd think, that after three years, he'd be able to come up with a better insult than that..._ It still seemed to get Ron riled up, however. The lone Gryffindor flushed as red as his hair and tensed for a fistfight, then seemed to calm down. Seeing this, Draco switched tactics and started in about the poor hippogriff again. Ryua had gotten tired of this about two hours after Buckbeak had ripped his arm open, and was just about to go down and shut her brother up when- SPLAT!

The look on his face was absolutely brilliant. _Hmm, maybe he should dye his hair mud brown permanently. It'd reflect the merde-for-brains interior..._ Crabbe and Goyle, when drenched with green slime, looked more terrified than Ryua had almost ever seen them. As the three of them thundered past, she sent a quiet impedimenta jinx after them to slow them down. "Harry, where are you? That was absolutely brilliant!" When Ron just stared guiltily at her, apparently torn between confusion and terror that she knew Harry was there, she said, "Oh, come on, you two, I've known about that cloak since the first year."

"You have?" Ron asked, in a squeaky sort of voice.

"Yes. Harry, I assume he's gone off to the school by now? And Hermionie were out of bed climbing the Astronomy tower one night. Draco got caught, and just a while later, the two of them came down a staircase I hadn't seen anyone go up. When I went up, the cloak was just sitting there, plain as day. It's good to know he got it back alright."

"Oh, right. So, it was you who found it. We'd thought it was Dumbledore, he gave it to Harry, well, from his parents anyway."

"Uh huh. Almost kept it too. It's a beautiful thing, I'll have to get one someday. I've got a lethifold, but it only helps in the shadows, can't do anything like what Harry just pulled off..." Ryua broke off with a grimace. "Oh, first four, Draco saw Harry, didn't he? I doubt he believes it's really him, but he'll try to get him in trouble anyway. Come on, we'd better get back and see what we can do about it..." and she ran off along the path back to the main road to Hogwarts, Ron following. With luck, they could get there before Snape expelled him, or confiscated that fantastic cloak.

Ryua and Ron ran full tilt down the stairs leading to Snape's dungeon office, just in time for Ron to burst in saying he'd given all of Harry's incriminating goods to him ages ago to the glowering Potions master. _Hopefully, he won't be asked to identify it all..._ Luckily for Harry, Professor Lupin was there too, and quite forcefully steered the boys out of the office at the first chance possible, Ryua trailing behind just out of sight. She was also, unfortunately, just out of hearing range, so she couldn't hear what was going on between them. When Lupin left, however, she came up to congratulate Harry on his prank.

"That really was brilliant Harry. Draco deserves to be taken down a notch every now and then."

Harry must have been worried she was going to curse him for it, because an expression of relief crossed his face. "Well, it was too perfect of an opportunity to miss... Hang on. How do you know it was me? You weren't there, were you?"

"Yes, I'd gotten bored and was coming to see what Draco was up to. Slowed them down going through the trees too. And, yes, I know about your cloak."

"She's the one who gave it back to you, mate, when you left it in the Astrology tower." Ron said as they cheerfully meandered along corridors.

"Really? Well, thanks then."

"So, that's how you've been getting to Hogsmeade, eh? I assume those muggles didn't sign your form..."

"Well, mostly..."

"Mostly? First, an invisibility cloak, then playing pranks on innocent (well, maybe not so innocent) bystanders, and now, dark secrets? Why the hell aren't you in Slytherin?"

To her surprise, Harry paled just a little before answering rather too cheerfully, "Runs in the family, I guess... yeah, it does. My mother's muggleborn, can't get into a pureblood house."

"So was Tom Riddle's, and he's the most famous Slytherin in the past century." They both stared at her. "What? She was. It's right in Hogwarts A History under the prefects section. _Not that _he_ lets it be common knowledge..._

"You've got a sense of honor, a clever mind, an incredible work ethic, you read those insane books, and you've even been known to be nice on occasion? Why the hell are you _in _Slytherin?"

"Runs in the family."


	47. Draco Gets Bashed Again

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Draco Gets Bashed Again

There were just a few days until the Easter holidays, followed by quidditch, and the entire school was vibrating. Potions and Care of Magical Creatures had gotten tenser than ever between the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses. Care of Magical Creatures was by far the worst, simply because Hagrid had gone to pieces over Buckbeak. Draco was watching his step around Ryua about it, but when surrounded by a full class of students, he apparently felt quite safe.

"Look at him blubber! Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic? And he's supposed to be our teacher!" Draco was chortling to a group of his little followers about Hagrid. Ryua, who was chatting about quidditch with Ron and Harry, turned to him, drawing her wand. Harry and Ron weren't nearly so subtle, they just raised fists. To everyone's surprise, however, Hermionie got there first. With the force of the blow that rocked him back, Ryua was surprised his nose didn't break, and also wondered where gentle, book-and-magic-loving little Hermionie had learned to punch like that.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul, you evil..." Unfortunately, Ron restrained her before she could finish what promised to be a fantastic insult. Struggling out of his arms, Hermionie pulled out her wand and pointed it at Draco's throat. A look of fear crossed his face, which he tried to cover by acting all cool as he beat a retreat to the dungeons.

"That was truly fantastic, Hermionie! Nice punch. And, I've got Transfiguration, so goodbye!" Ryua followed the rest of the Slytherins to the castle, leaving Harry and Ron to congratulate her on their way to Charms.

The teachers seemed determined to load them down with homework for Easter, which was either good or bad depending on you point of view. Bad, because you couldn't relax and enjoy the time off, good because they were busy enough that Father didn't make the twins come home. And as if essays, projects, and reports weren't enough, Marcus had taken to waking his team up early twice a week to practice for the upcoming match.

"If we can get the snitch before Gryffindor is 370 points ahead, we win. I don't suppose you lot think that's possible?"

"Well, when you put it that way... we might be able to pull it off." Warrington replied sarcastically.

"We'll be fine." Ryua said as the morning sun started to illuminate the top turrets of Hogwarts behind them. "I seriously doubt Gryffindor could get 37 goals past me."

"Yeah. Draco! This is mostly your game. If Gryffindor can get even six goals, then Potter catches that snitch, they win the cup. The deck's stacked in our favor here. Unless something drastic happens, we're a cinch to win. That is, if you can catch that little gold ball."

"Oh, come on. Of course I can catch it. I did against Chang and Diggory, remember?"

"Yeah, but you keep showing off against Potter. Keep it focused, Malfoy."

And so they practiced. During their scheduled practices Tuesday and Thursday, and on their own any time they were ambitious and the pitch was open. Which wasn't actually very often. Slytherin was known for its cunning and ruthlessness, not it's hard work.

That ruthlessness came into play the day of the match. Although Professor Snape had convinced them that sabotaging the Gryffindor team before the match started would get them kicked off the team, Flint's strategy stayed the same. Beat them. And not just win, literally, beat them. Bludgers, vicious passes, arms, brooms, bats, everything illegal or not was to be used. The only thing was they couldn't get themselves expelled or kicked off. _Fine by me,_ Ryua thought, _the only one I would mind hurting is Harry, and he's no concern of mine._

It was truly the most vicious match Ryua had ever witnessed. Although Gryffindor was probably going to have trouble playing against their dirty tactics, it also gave them a lot of free shots. And the real problem was, those chasers had been practicing an awful lot. Even with her team's help, Ryua was having trouble catching the shots, and all those stupid fouls they kept awarding to Gryffindor negated even that little support. Ryua cursed as Bole's bludger, which Johnson ducked, smashed into her right shoulder, pulling her off balance for the chaser's shot. She flexed her arm, wincing as she tried to extend it. Oh, well, she would live. "Flint!" she bellowed across the field as she hurtled the quaffle left-handed at him, "Bloody well do something useful, will you?"

He raised his hand in recognition as he flew off towards the far end. Apparently as fed up with losing as Ryua, he stubbornly wove through enough defenses to get a clear shot at the goal hoops. Ryua breathed a sigh of relief when the quaffle finally made it through the hoop, scoring them ten points. "Come on, Draco," she muttered as she scanned for her brother, "Catch the bloody thing, would you? This is one hell of a team we're up against, and we can't win just by scoring one goal."

One thing Marcus hadn't expected was for the Gryffindor team to get just as nasty as they were. The Weasley twins had quite a violent streak in them, and were starting to pick up the dirty game on their side. Unfortunately, left handed, she had real problems catching many goals. She looked up at the announcement of Gryffindor's seventh goal (_I know, you idiot, you don't have to crow it to the field) _to see Potter streaking for the snitch just above. _No!_ Draco seemed to be having the same thought. He leapt forward and hung off Harry's broom. Spinnet got a penalty shot of course, which she missed, but the important thing was that Harry lost the snitch. Even better, Montague got a goal on Wood, bringing the score back to breathing range.

Ryua looked back down to the field to see Johnson receive the quaffle, and Marcus give the mob signal. After seeing a group of jays take down an osprey for a fish, they'd come up with this play. Draco stayed after the snitch, but everyone else abandoned their post and flew straight at the opposing chaser. Unfortunately, Harry noticed this and decided to break it up. She stifled a scream when his broom tail knocked her shoulder backwards, turning the spin into a streak back to the goalposts. Still fighting a wave of nausea from the pain, she managed to pass Johnson, but couldn't focus enough to get between her and the posts to block the shot. Listing to one side, Ryua didn't even bother to scoop up the quaffle. Draco and Harry were hurtling towards the ground for the snitch, and it was out of her hands now.

And, apparently, out of Draco's. Harry's skill and superior broom inched him ahead to grab the snitch. Somewhere in her befuddled head, she felt a little happiness that her friend had won the cup, and somewhere else sorrow and anger that they hadn't. Mostly, though, she just wanted to go lie down somewhere.

In the change rooms, most of the team looked similar. Bole and Derrick had suffered a head-on collision earlier, Warrington had gotten smashed by a bludger, Montague had been thrown into the stands by Harry's breakup dive, Draco was in shock over being so close, and Marcus' nose was still trickling blood from where Weasley's club had bounced it off of his broom handle. He still managed to come over and pull Ryua off her broom onto a bench, however, pulling back when she gasped with pain. "Dislocated," he pronounced after a slight examination, "No wonder you were having so much trouble. You should go to the hospital wing..."

"No!' Ryua shook her head. Madam Pomfrey would want to see her shoulder, which meant she would see her back, covered in curse scars. "No, Marcus, just put it back in..."

"You've got to be joking. You need treatment."

"I'll live. Just put it back in, and let me go sleep for a while, alright?"

"Okay, if you're sure..." he gently took her arm and maneuvered it around. With a pained look, he forced it back into place with a rather revolting pop. Ryua doubled over at the accompanying flash of pain, then forced herself upright, rotating her arm.

"Thanks," she said in a hoarse voice, "It'll be fine now. Go up and get the rest of yourselves treated, I'm going down to the dorms..."

"Okay. Wait, get Pansy or Millicent to go too. I don't want you falling down a staircase."

"Good idea..." she walked carefully out, relieved to find the two girls already waiting outside the pitch.

"Merlin's beard, Ryua, you look awful!"

"Thanks."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that..."

"I know, I know, just help me down to the dorms, okay?"

"Yeah, sure... Millicent, come here." There were times when having friends as big, cautious, quiet, and slow as Millicent were very good. She carefully guided Ryua down the stairs, and pulled the talkative Pansy out after her, leaving Ryua to drift off into a deep sleep.


	48. Studying

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Studying  
  
Ryua woke up the next morning to find her dorms blessedly empty, as she'd managed to sleep past even Millicent. Lucky it's a Saturday, she thought as she tried to remember how to move. Carefully unwinding Parsyl from her hair and neck, she went to push herself up, falling back down with a hiss of pain as her right shoulder collapsed under the weight. Rolling cautiously out of bed, she grabbed a loose set of very soft, very loose green robes and walked slowly to the bathing rooms.

She breathed a sigh of relief to see no one else present. Locking the door behind her, she started to painfully wriggle out of her quidditch robes. Her arm no longer felt so wrong as yesterday, and could move slowly, but it still hurt an incredible amount. _And no wonder._ Her entire right shoulder was tinted a nasty greenish-purple. Between the bludger, Harry's broom, and Marcus wrenching it back into place, she'd taken some fairly serious damage. A long, hot bath then...

Apparently, everything hurt, not just her shoulder. She hadn't really noticed until the steaming water started to relax her tense muscles. _I don't think I've ever played that hard before,_ she thought as her aching body soaked up the heat. Parsyl came to join her, and became rather fascinated by the new bubble soap Ryua had found. The cobra chased neon blue bubbles all around the surface of the water, hissing with annoyance when they bounced out of her reach. Ryua chuckled. "Come on then, let's go see if there's anything left for breakfast."

Much more comfortable for her long soak and the loose robes, she made her way up to the Great Hall, where just a few stragglers were still eating. She sat down beside a little first year, who jumped at being addressed by a Malfoy. "Could I sit here?"

"S-sure." After Ryua had eaten two muffins, three glasses of juice, and six slices of bacon in the space of about three minutes, the little girl spoke up again. "You, you're one of the quidditch players, aren't you?"

"Yep. I don't suppose you'd pass over what's left of those pancakes, would you? That last match killed just about all my energy."

"I bet." Her eyes were wide as she passed over the dish. "Is quidditch always that, you know..."

"Violent?" Ryua grinned down at the girl. "No, not often. It was just the last game, and both sides wanted to win. Of course, Flint's a vicious person, and we always play hardest against Gryffindor. He's an excellent chaser, but rather ruthless. Although, he'll be done now, this is his seventh year, so we'll be having a new captain next year. Should be a completely different style now."

"You got hit by that bludger, didn't you? It looked really painful..."

Ryua grimaced. "It was. Dislocated it. Oh," she said when she saw the horrified look on the girl's face, "nothing serious, but it kept me from moving my arm properly throughout the game. It's fine now, just a little sore. D'you play quidditch at all?"

"Well, sort of. I mean, everyone plays a bit, and I'm pretty good at catching and throwing things..."

"Hmm, maybe you could be a chaser next year, then. I'll talk to the new captain about it. I bet he'll be more likely to take girls on now. Hey, you never told me your name!"

"It's Snape, Ashley Snape."

"Professor's your... uncle, right?"

"Yeah," she looked around, then leaned in close to Ryua, "He's always telling me to wash my hair, but don't you think he needs to do it more?" Ryua laughed. "Yes, he does. But, I like him anyway. He treats me, I dunno, like someone he really cares about, like family. I think he's a fourth cousin on my Father's side, or something, actually."

"That means we're cousins then!"

"Yep! And don't tell anyone," Ryua leaned in conspiratorially, "But I think you're nicer than most of my other cousins." They both giggled over that, then giggled even more when Parsyl appeared attempting to eat an orange three times the size of her head and chased it across the floor under the Hufflepuff table, causing a wave of mayhem. After polishing off nine pancakes, two bagels, five pieces of fruit, and a couple cherry strudels for good measure, Ryua was finally re-engergized. "Well, I should go do some homework, and study for those stupid exams..."

"Ugh! Yeah, I've got them too. Do they get any easier?"

"Well, not particularly, but they don't get much harder. Or if they do, you get smarter, at least. Bye!" Ryua went down to the common room to get her books. Once there, however, she decided to go study out in the sun outside. She piled her stuff into a shoulder bag, slung it over her shoulder, winced, slung it over the other one, and went up to enjoy the fresh air. It turned out that the entire Gryffindor house had woken up not much earlier than she had, thanks to a huge party that carried on late into the night. Ryua walked over to a very sleepy trio. "So, congratulations to the victor, I suppose?"

Harry shaded his eyes as he looked up. "Oh, yeah. Thanks. I hope you know that was the dirtiest match I've ever played."

"Me too, don't worry," Ryua said as she plunked down on the grass next to them. "When did those bloody chasers of yours get so good?"

Harry groaned. "Wood's been having us up nearly every morning at the crack of dawn, not to mention after school, evenings, weekends... Although, your team's better than we expected. I mean, we expected the cheating..."

"Yeah, well, we were desperate. Flint figured, we had to keep you distracted long enough for my useless twin to catch the snitch before you got 370 points ahead. And we would have had you too..."

"Not!"

"Oh yes we would. I played nearly the entire game left-handed, thanks to Bole's clumsy aim. If I could have kept even one more quaffle out of my goal hoops, we would have won. Actually, that was your fault too."

"It was?"

"Yes. Remember when you went headlong into our little mob? Remember colliding with anything?"

"Not head on, maybe a little resistance as I pulled out..."

"That was me. You knocked my dislocated shoulder so far back I nearly blacked out. I couldn't even focus enough to get back to my goals."

"Ouch, sorry... How bad is it?"

"Oh... nothing I can't live with. Marcus put it back in, and I've been sleeping it off. It's turned a fantastic shade of purple, but I can move it again now."

Ron seemed to have paled from the casual conversation about injuries. "Didn't you go see Madam Pomfrey? She could have given you something."

"No, it's no big deal. Anyways," she said, switching the topic, "do you gaggle of hopeless Gryffindors feel ready for the exams yet?"

"We're not hopeless... and no, we don't."

"Especially Hermionie. She's got twice as much to do as the rest of us, hasn't stopped writing since she got up." Ron looked down at the frantically scribbling Hermionie. "I don't think she's even noticed you're here yet..."

"Of course I have Ron. Ryua, I don't suppose you have those notes on weather prediction exceptions for Arithmancy, do you?"

"Of course, just a minute..." she started rummaging through her bag.

"Well fine, she's noticed you, but what a one track mind, eh?"

"At least she's going to pass her exams," Ryua said as she passed along a sheaf of number charts and paragraphs to Hermionie, who set them down with her other books without even looking up. "Speaking of which, I'd better start too... and so should you two. Especially Potions, Professor Snape was saying something about mind-altering brews..." she laughed as the two boys pulled out notes and obediently started flipping through to the correct chapters.  
  
Author's Note: Ashley Snape is a character belonging to a friend of mine. I wrote her in on a whim, and she's probably quite different than the original character. I'm still looking for people who want to be in Slytherin, I just need a name, any name, you don't need to send any sort of information if you don't want to. And spells, please. Especially curses. They can be just evil sounding names, and I'll invent an effect, or a nasty effect and I'll invent a name, or better yet, give me the whole thing.


	49. Exams and the End

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Exams and the End

_It was a good thing we did all that studying,_ Ryua mused over dinner Wednesday night. The exams were strenuous, to say the least. Transfiguration went well, as usual, although her tortoise still had porcelain toenails by the end of time limit. Charms hadn't been a complete disaster, although she doubted she'd be bringing home an Outstanding by any means. At least she hadn't charmed her partner into hysteria, like Harry did. Care of Magical Creatures had been downright boring, and depressing, because all they'd done was talk with Hagrid about Buckbeak's impending doom.

Potions was a welcome change, as Confusing Concoctions was something she'd remembered to review. At least she had one Outstanding to bring home. History of Magic was dull, as was to be expected, but medieval witch burnings were something Ryua had found a dusty old tome about at home. Of course, it dealt more with the horrific crimes the actual witches had done, and went into great detail about how they exacted their revenge, but Professor Binns should still accept her slightly bloodthirsty response.

Tomorrow held DADA and Arithmancy, both exams she was actually looking forward to. She figured she could curse, jinx, and hex her way through whatever Lupin could throw at her, and Arithmancy was never something she'd had a problem with. She'd review notes and charts tonight, and put a silencing charm on Millicent so she could get a good night's sleep.

Sure enough, the next morning, Ryua woke up rested and calm. She removed her charm, shuddering as Millicent's snoring became audible again. Breakfast showed the entire school to be excited at the prospect of the end of exams, and term with it. _Oh, right, end of term..._ Ryua had managed to ignore the fact that she'd have to go home in a week. _Oh well, time to worry after exams._

After breakfast, Ryua was pleased to see Lupin had indeed set up an obstacle course for his test. _Grindylow, Red Caps, Hinkypunk, no problem... oh, merde, boggart? Anything but a boggart._ Although Lupin had accepted her bulled write-up about her fear of rats, she knew she wouldn't be facing rats in that trunk. _Alright, now how the hell do I make the Dark Lord and his entire circle seem amusing? Pink robes? Shield spell? I have no idea..._

"Ryua, your turn. Good luck." Professor Lupin's calm, friendly expression didn't do too much to reassure her. Well, tackle one thing at a time. The Grindylow grabbed at her robes, and she glared down at it, raising her wand. "Glassticia!" The hex made the fingers turn thin and delicate, the texture of spun glass. She kicked it off her robes, the fingers splintering off, much to the horror of the dazed Grindylow. The Red Caps weren't any more of a challenge, falling back as she sent a wave of curses ahead of her. The Hinkypunk was more difficult, as the only way to curse it would be to look at it's light. _Well, _she reasoned, _only useless, weak people would let such a pathetic creature sway them from their course..._ So, she strode in, head held high, pulling the inherited Malfoy swagger into full play. Refusing to even change her course for non-enemy things, she blasted the occasional fallen log out of her way, emerging from the maze-like swamp having followed a completely straight line. _Now for the hard part._ She took a deep breath, and kept her cocky attitude as she entered the trunk.

Sure enough, the walls dissolved into a chamber filled with black robed figures. Not even giving the Dark Lord a chance to touch her, she raised her wand, and shouted, "Riddikulus!" A cheery, lilting Celtic air filled the chamber, and the entire group was forced into a completely undignified Riverdance line. She couldn't help laughing at the expression on her Father's face as he was forced into a leaping duet with the Dark Lord, robes flapping up and down. Giggling, she suddenly found she could open the door again, and fell out into bright sunlight and fresh air. _Oh, Father's will kill me for that, if he ever finds out..._ And there was Professor Lupin standing there, waiting for her.

"Well done, Ryua, top marks. I see your 'rats' weren't much of a problem?"

"No sir..." she looked up into his face, as her stomach plummeted. _He knew, oh, by the Hogwarts Four, he knew..._

To her surprise, Lupin just smiled understandingly, putting a finger to his lips. Ryua just about melted with relief. Strange though his habits might be, he wasn't going to tell Father what she saw in that boggart. She smiled happily, turning away to get to the Great Hall. An adrenaline rush like that made you hungry, and she still had another exam to write.

Luckily, Arithmancy went over nearly as well as Transfiguration. Although she missed a middle name of one of the family members in their given example, she decided it would be close enough to give her an excellent mark.

Two days later, nearly the entire school was lined up for a Hogsmeade visit. Ryua kept searching for Ron, Harry, and Hermionie, hoping to spend some time with them before the summer. She hadn't seen them since the last of exams, actually, but had figured they were just off in their common room. This was getting strange, though. Exams were over, so they couldn't be studying, and she doubted Ron and Hermionie would miss a Hogsmeade visit. Maybe they were all going with Harry through some underground tunnel or something.

But when she got there, she never saw any of them once. She visited Honeydukes, stocking up on sugar for the holidays, ordering it delivered by her own owl. That way, neither Draco nor Father would find it. Also, she visited a rather shifty apothecary's shop to pick up some ingredients for spells. She was going to practice some more intricate ones over the summer, and she'd need things for magical shields, rune castings, pentagram circles... and they weren't' all things you could get from completely legal stores. Charming the bag to resemble simple potion kit refills, she went off to have one last look for her absent friends. They weren't at the Three Broomsticks, Shrieking Shack, or Zonko's either. Oh, well. Life goes on.

They were, however, at the feast. She managed to corner them afterwards, curious at the myriad small bruises, scrapes, and Ron's bandaged leg. "Where have you three been? There are rumors flying all over the school, all I know is it involves Sirius Black somehow."

"Well, we aren't really supposed to talk about it..."

"Oh come on. I've been trying to figure out Sirius Black since I first heard the story. Tell me what actually went on, I know you must have figured it out. After all, Harry, you haven't killed him."

Harry blinked. "What? Just how much do you know about it?"

"I know he was never a Death Eater, and that he was your parent's best friend, along with Lupin and Pettigrew. I also know that Peter Pettigrew was the Death Eater, at least, before he got blown up. What I don't know is how it all fits together."

The trio looked at each other with looks of disbelief. "Why didn't we ask her sooner?" Hermionie asked.

"I don't know, it never occurred to me that a Malfoy would willingly give up information."

"Well, my brother wouldn't, you've got a point there. All of us have known for ages that Sirius wasn't a Death Eater though, no one could figure out why he would kill the Potters. The real difference is, no one else cared, as long as the Potters were dead. It never sat right with me, though."

"Alright. But, I still don't know..."

"I'm not going to go blabbing to my Father, or anything, don't worry about that. He's never told me anything useful, why should I be the one to start the trend?"

Hermionie still looked uncertain, and Ron was downright not believing her. Harry, on the other hand, seemed to want to talk about it. "Okay, here's how it happened..."

"Well, that makes a lot more sense than any explanation I've ever heard. And Sirius is gone? Good for him. I couldn't imagine how he lived for twelve years in Azkaban. I hope those Dementors never find him. Actually, I hope we never find any Dementors ourselves. Although, that Patronus charm sounds extremely useful."

"Yeah." Harry grinned. "I still don't know exactly how I managed it. All I know is that you need a really happy thought. Or get yourself in a circumstance where you know you can do it..."

"Happy thought eh?" Ryua couldn't actually think of many thoughts happy enough to summon a wisp of silver, let alone an entire Patronus. "Speaking of happy thoughts, is anyone going to the Quidditch Cup this year?"

Ron lost all traces of misgivings at that. "Of course! Father's got us all tickets, we're even going to kidnap Harry from the muggles."

"Excellent! Maybe I'll see you all there then."

And so ended Ryua's third year, flowing into what promised to be a rather depressing summer, minus the World Cup, of course.


	50. BOOK FOUR: Yet Another Homecoming

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Yet Another Homecoming  
  
There was exactly one good thing about going home. Since they had tried to kiss Harry, the dementors had been sent back to Azkaban, so the train didn't have to go under them. Other than that, the outlook was bleak.

Her marks were not bad my most standards. Actually, most students would be thrilled by them, DADA and Potions had top marks, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy were nearly that high, and History of Magic was Above Average. Charms, however, Ryua's worst class, was Average, and she suspected Professor Flitwick had been marking her easy. She seemed to have a block against the class. Some charms she could work easily, especially ones that could be used for dueling, torture, or illegal purposes. Many of them worked, but just barely. And, about a third of the charms set her, she simply couldn't work. She didn't know why, and neither did Hermionie, who had started tutoring her last term. Even Flitwick couldn't coach her to use some of them, after she'd swallowed her pride and asked for help. But that wasn't even what she was worried about most.

Father, for reasons that made very little sense to Ryua, had decreed that quidditch should never be played by women. Ryua happened to be very good at quidditch, and had managed to join the Slytherin house team as a keeper. Father would have been angry if their team had managed to _win_ the House Cup. Unfortunately, thanks to injuries, and a much more ferocious opposition than any of them had expected, they had lost the cup by ten points. The fact that Ryua had been injured badly by the match wouldn't engender any sympathy in Father. Actually, it might make him even more furious. She rubbed her still-tender shoulder at the thought, dreading having to leave the train to meet her parents.

All too soon, the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform 9 ¾. She saw Harry off talking to his relatives_ (Yeesh! I don't think he enjoys summer any more than I do), _Hermionie walking over to her parents, and Ron, Ginny, Percy, and the twins hugging Mrs. Weasley. Ryua sighed, picking up Parsyl, and joined Draco on their way over to their own parents. Mother embraced them both, and gave them little pecks on the cheek, and Father put a paternal hand on Draco's shoulder. _What a perfect little show for everyone at the station._

At home, it all changed. Father and mother took up their customary positions on the couch in the private family room, while the children placed their report cards on the round walnut table and stood at attention while their marks were reviewed. Draco had slightly worse marks than his sister, although his annual frantic studying to pull his mark up at the end of term had gotten them to a decent level. _Got to love those final exams..._ Or hate them. It all depended on which things the teachers tried to test you on. Something new this year had occurred however, as Father was about to tell them.

"Now children, I have been sent a copy of your midterm marks as well." Draco blanched at these words, because his midterm marks had been horrendous. "And it has shown me some fascinating things. Draco,"

"Sir?" Draco replied in a small voice.

"I'm quite impressed at the way you have improved your marks in such a short amount of time. You are to be commended for your effort."

"Wha- Thanks, Father!" Draco was not one to let such a chance pass by.

"Ryua, on the other hand, your marks have dropped."  
  
What? Ooh, that arrogant, unfair, favoring, biased... "Sir, if I may, that's because of the exams..."  
  
"You would give me excuses? I want to see results, not pathetic one-sided excuses. Although," Lucius continued smoothly, "That is not the main reason I am upset with your performance at school."

_Oh, Salazar, here it comes,_ "Sir?"

"I have also been informed that you are still on the quidditch team."

Something in Ryua snapped. All her life so far, Father had berated her, and she had taken it like a meek, subservient female should. For some reason, Ryua just couldn't act like the accepting little child she had been before. She raised her head, meeting his cold, angry gaze with her own hot, prideful one. "Yes I am, Father. And I don't intend to stop either."

She noticed Draco and mother flinching at that statement, but ignored them. Lucius rose, face filled with anger that his daughter would dare speak to him in that tone. He gestured for her to follow. She waited just long enough to be insolent, then followed, stalking almost as angrily as he. Draco and Narcissa just looked at each other, then with an unspoken agreement, left in the other direction.

"I am very displeased at your attitude with this whole business, Ryua." She glared back at him, stubbornly fighting down the first trickles of fear.

She kept her voice cool and steady, not really wanting to incense him more. "Father, this is not the twelfth century anymore. I am not going to just lie here and take your patronizing rules. Every other team in the school has girls on it. I have proven my worth on a broom, and I will not stop playing just because you say so."

The look on his face quailed her inside. "If you will not accept my rules when I give them to you civilly, then we will have to impress the importance of them on you in some other manner."

Ryua set herself, raising her own wand as Lucius drew his. "Incendio!" she snapped, before he could get his own spell ready. He yelped, throwing a freezing charm onto his robes. Knowing she only had a moment to act, Ryua yelled, "Ricto-"

"Expelliarmus!" Lucius had lost what little patience he might have had left. "Staticseia" Ryua bit down a shriek as her entire skin came alive with a sensation between an itch and a burn. "Foolish girl. Foolish, foolish girl. You know the outcome will always be the same, yet you constantly strive to make life more difficult. Your life would be a lot easier if you never forgot your place."

"My place," Ryua gasped, "is not what you decree-"she broke off as Lucius hit her with a different curse, one which left no breath for talking.

"Silence. You would do well to hold your tongue more often. If only," he sighed, sounding for all the world like a reluctant parent withholding a candy from a greedy child, "you would accept that I am the one who makes the rules, we would not have to do this."

In response, she just glared up at his eyes, eyes that betrayed how much he enjoyed inflicting pain. "No!" she managed to gasp out.

He lifted his wand for just a second then, enough for Ryua to nearly collapse from the sudden release. "No? You won't accept my rule? Very well... Frappecia!" Ryua was thrown back across the room with the force of a hammer blow, and slammed into an ornately carved manticore statue. She couldn't suppress a groan as the open mouth filled with cleverly carved teeth dug into her already injured shoulder. She looked up, real fear in her eyes when she saw her Father had noticed her extra pain. He gestured, and she rose up unwillingly in response to his magic. "Now, if you can just agree to follow my rules next year, we can both stop this little session and go our separate ways." Ryua glared at him, clearly refusing to do any such thing. He closed his fist on thing air, and she gasped as a wave of pain shot through her shoulder. "Now, just agree..."

"N-no..." she managed to say. She moaned with pain as she felt her feet leave the floor, supported entirely by her shoulder. She concentrated all of her remaining energy on keeping her gaze level with her Father's. He snarled with rage, and squeezed harder. With a sickening lurch, she felt her shoulder slip out of joint again. Unable to do anything else, she let her gaze drop to the ground, hating herself for giving in. Satisfied, Lucius released her, stalking out of the room. Ryua fell hard on the floor, barely managing to hit on her good side. Left with nothing but an intense, pulsing ache from her shoulder, she blacked out on the floor.

She came to a little later when fire shot through it again. Ryua screamed, unable to focus on whoever was pulling on it. She heard a curse, and her arm thudded back to the floor. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot..." It was Draco. From the angle of the light coming through the window, she'd been unconscious here for nearly two hours. Excited squeaking told her Toppy or one of the other elves must have fetched Draco to get her up to her room. They were forbidden by Father to use their magic to aid the Malfoys after one of his little 'talks', but when she didn't get up, they must have bent the rules enough to find someone big enough to carry her somewhere to rest.

"Draco?"

"Yeah. What can I touch?"

"Anything except that shoulder..."

"Okay." She felt him unsteadily lifting her up, then managed to black out again. She came to on her bed, Draco shaking out his arms after carrying her through their excessively large house beside her.

"Draco, Draco, listen, before you go, I need you to do something else, okay?"

He looked down at her. "Yeah?"

She grimaced. "Put my shoulder back in."

"What? I don't know how to do that!"

"I'd do it myself, but I can't even touch it. You saw Marcus, it's pretty simple. It has to be done soon, or it won't heal right."

"Oh, fine. But, put down your wand first, I don't want you cursing me by accident."

"I don't have it on me. Toppy'll probably find it eventually, if Father's forbidding wears off. Just do it, okay?" Wearing an expression almost identical to Flint's at the beginning of the injury, Draco set about forcing his twin's shoulder back in. What he wasn't prepared for was the wave of pain he felt at the same time Ryua fainted for the third time that day. It had been a long time since he'd felt anything between their link, probably because they'd been at such odds with each other. Well, at least that was fixed now. There had to be some good coming from an incident like this. He pulled the covers over her unconscious form, and slipped out before Father found him being sympathetic.


	51. Lucius' Plan

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Lucius' Plan  
  
Ryua woke up the next morning aching. Her shoulder hurt the most of all, and her skin still pricked from her Father's static hex. Her head pounded, and to top it all off, she had a stomachache. Groaning, she levered herself up, throwing back her covers. Much to her shock, she saw blood on her sheets. What did he do to me? I don't remember getting cut...She summoned Toppy to take care of it, and went off to her private bath to see what was going on. At this rate, that shoulder's never going to heal. Her bruise was deep purple again, spreading from her collarbone halfway down her back and arm. Disconcertingly, she could see a pattern of what looked like giant fingers in the discoloration. For a change, none of the curses he used left welts of any sort, so there was at least one thing she didn't have to worry about. Her headache would disappear with rest, food, and water; it was similar to a hangover. What really worried her was the fact that her stomach ached. That was new, and it appeared to be linked to the blood leaking from inside her. For the first time, she didn't know what to do. This could be something serious, although she couldn't remember a curse her Father used with that effect. She took a shower first, to relieve some of her shoulder aches and clean her legs of blood. She was just stepping out when her mother walked in, giving Ryua quite a start. She couldn't ever remember her mother visiting her room before, or wearing quite that expression. "Mother, what are you doing here?" she asked, wrapping a robe around herself before Narcissa could get a look at her back. She couldn't do anything about the bruise on her shoulder though, but pretended not to notice her mother looking at it. "Ryua, I understand you've just gotten your first cycle. This is marvelous news!" "What are you talking about?" Ryua wasn't in the best of moods, and she couldn't think straight thanks to the pounding in her head. "Toppy has just been to see me. You've started your monthly cycles, you are now a woman." Ryua closed her eyes and tried to think. She vaguely remembered something she'd read in a potion manual about menstrual blood, had heard some older girls talking about a cycle of some sort... lovely. All she knew about the subject was that the fluid could be used for powerful spells, and it seemed to make girls uncomfortable once a month. "So? What's the big deal?" "Now, you will no longer be treated as a child. It is a wonderful thing to happen, Ryua." Mother seemed to be making up for lost mother-daughter time. "Okay. Fine. What can I do about it?" Ryua had no real patience for this sort of thing. Family ties hadn't been very strong before, and she didn't really see any reason why that should change now. Mother sighed, and started explaining different charms and things. Ryua privately hoped she could get these charms to work. Mother had always been better at charms and lighter spells than Ryua. As much as everyone involved refused to admit it, Ryua was very much her Father's daughter. Poor Father, Ryua thought bitterly, He so wanted a son to take after him. Probably, that was why they were so cruel to each other. After embracing Ryua for the first time since she was an infant, Narcissa walked out of Ryua's rooms.  
  
(Narcissa, Lucius' study, five minutes later)  
  
"Lucius, I need to speak with you." He put down his quill, intrigued. Narcissa rarely, if ever, requested something. "Yes?" Narcissa took a moment to compose herself. She didn't do this often. "Ryua has become a woman now. As such, I believe it time for us to stop treating her like a child." She stopped talking, waiting apprehensively for Lucius' response. Oddly enough, he didn't become angry at all, just thoughtful. "Indeed. I believe you are right, my dear." Narcissa nearly melted with relief. She was exactly the kind of woman Lucius expected, meek and fearful, and not one to stand up against him. "We must find some way to make her accept her new role, some way to calm her down." "Quite right, husband." Narcissa was amazed that he was actually agreeing with her. She'd wanted to make Ryua's life easier for a while now, just hadn't been able to find some way to go about it. Anyway, the girl had seemed to be quite capable of handling herself, with the exception of that quidditch injury. Her shoulder looked just awful. "What do you propose?" "Actually, that is exactly what I am thinking." "What, marriage? Lucius, she's too young..." "Yes, of course. I'm not stupid, woman." Narcissa flinched at his tone. Seemingly satisfied with that response, he continued, "She is not too young, however, to start an arranged engagement." "But Lucius, with whom? As the firstborn, she must have a suitable match..." He almost lost his temper at the mention of Ryua's status. He managed to calm himself, however, and started talking through pureblood families. The Crabbes and Goyles, although they both had sons the appropriate age, weren't nearly desirable enough for Lucius' taste. He completely ignored anyone who was involved with quidditch, hoping to influence her away from it, not that she was likely to break her agreement to stop playing next year (Narcissa was sorry for that, as Ryua actually seemed to like Marcus Flint). The Weasleys were out of the question (although they undoubtedly had enough eligible bachelors), the Snape family had no sons, neither did the Lestranges. Avery, perhaps, or Nott... Narcissa gulped. She really didn't want her daughter forced into a Death Eater marriage, as she had been. She wasn't about to say that, however, so she had to go about it softly. "Lucius, what about the Zabinis? I believe they have a boy, Blaise I think." He actually thought about it, which was more than Narcissa had dared hope for. Although the family wasn't fully tied to the Dark Lord, they were respected, and had a sufficient amount of wealth to make a suitable match. "Hmm, that's not too bad an idea. He's in their year, I believe, and was turned off the quidditch team as well. I will owl his father immediately." "Immediately?" Narcissa had hoped Ryua would be allowed some time to herself now she wasn't a child. She bit her tongue as Lucius stared up at her remark, however, and said, "Yes, yes of course..." At least, she thought, it's a good match. Blaise seems like a good boy...  
  
(Ryua, her bedroom, twenty minutes later)  
  
"What?" she shrieked. "You're marrying me off? That's illegal!" "Actually, dear, it isn't. Not the engagement, at any rate. And Blaise Zabini is..." "What?" Ryua was getting more worked up, not at all the reaction Narcissa had hoped for. "Blaise is an ignorant, strutting, peacock! He has no personality, no endearing qualities... How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?" "If you'd just calm down..." Privately, Narcissa was glad her daughter didn't have her wand. She was getting the same look in her eyes that Lucius did when he was feeling particularly incensed. "I will most certainly NOT calm down!" Regardless of the fact that Lucius had kept her wand after the 'talk', Ryua was starting to gather magic. Narcissa flinched as Ryua's forgotten parchment and books started to stir on the table, and a glass of water on the bedside table shattered, spraying water and glass shards across the room. "You would dare to do something like this, without my permission..." Narcissa didn't even give her a chance to finish the sentence. She fled the room, flinching again as Ryua's quill embedded itself in the door where her throat had been two seconds ago. Oh, dear... that didn't exactly go as planned...  
  
Author's note: Wow, thanks to all my reviewers, especially the new ones. Actually, especially my faithful ones too. Thanks to everyone, actually. Although, I'm still trying to come up with spells, people, and anything to fill out the fourth book. The Slytherin house doesn't come into it a lot, so I'll have to make it up as I go along. At this point, I doubt it'll be a very long section, so please give me any ideas you can find. 


	52. Boredom is a Wonderful Thing

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Boredom is a Wonderful Thing  
  
Ryua woke up the next morning in the worst mood she could ever remember feeling. Her shoulder was pounding in time with her pulse, she was getting a steady wave of cramps, and to top it all off, Father was sending the owl to the Zabini house that day. Feeling rather rebellious as a result of all this, Ryua set out to have a tension-relieving day.

First off, she found a pair of black pants she had 'borrowed' from her brother(it's fun to be an identical twin), pairing it off with a top that would probably make Father quite unhappy. Dressed in this parent-infuriating outfit, she left her hair loose and stalked off to find Toppy. "Toppy!" Ryua called as she strode into the kitchen.

"Yes miss?" the elf squeaked, a little apprehensively.

"Where is my wand, Toppy?" Ryua felt rather like going out to curse some garden gnomes right out of existence.

"Toppy is sorry, miss, Toppy doesn't have it..."

"What?"

"Toppy isn't allowed to get miss' wand... Master said so..."

With a sound somewhere between a snort and a growl, Ryua turned on her heel, leaving the distressed elf behind before she started ironing her ears or something. _How dare he take my wand?_ Lucius must have kept it after the 'talk'. _Bet he's scared I'll curse him again... what a surprise. That's exactly what I want to do... Well,_ she mused, _not all magic is done with a wand..._ That had been confirmed yesterday and the day before. Father could pick her up with a mere gesture, and she had actually made quite a mess of her room when she got angry at mother. _So, all I have to do is discover how to work it... _

Which was easier said than done. Ryua had locked herself in her room, with a few books on the subject from their library on the side table. It was supposed to be easier to work with some energy which already existed, so she had lit a candle from her fireplace and was in the process of trying to snuff it out then bring it back._ I think I'm missing something here._ The candle flame, although it wavered in the breeze her hand generated, refused to go out. She had seen people do it loads of times, and there didn't seem to be anything else to it.

_The problem is, my wand was magical._ That meant that spells automatically had something to work with. This candle, on the other hand, is just about as muggle as anything you could find in this house. So that meant the magic had to come from somewhere else. Without using a magical-core wand as a focus, she was left with figuring out how to do it on her own...

_On my own..._ Of course. As a pureblood witch, Ryua herself contained a decent sized wellspring of magic. Now she just had to tap it. She settled back on her bed, trying to relax. Wizards used meditation often; in fact, muggles who used it were copying wizards in the guise of mystics and yogis. Breathing deeply, Ryua tried to let her emotions release. This was not as easy as it sounded. Just being at home normally had her edgy and sullen, and being injured, cursed, and engaged put her emotions up onto a whole new level. _Fine, be that way._ She followed her anger down, as it was the emotion that unlocked her magic before. Sure enough, it merged into a pool of energy, and she smiled at the strength of the raw magic inside her. Okay, here goes... She pulled a thin tendril up out of the pool, and reached her hand out to the candle.

Ryua gestured, and half the candle dissolved. _Well, I put out the flame at least. Oh well, a little overkill can be remedied._ Using just a tiny spark this time, she lit up the much shorter wick. It caught, burning merrily. She waved her hand down, and it snuffed out easily. _Up, light, down, snuff..._ She grinned._ Now I've got it._

An hour later, she was levitating things across the room. Control was a lot looser, she noticed. The wand acted as a focusing device, not the actual source of magic. Wand magic was tighter, and more powerful in the precise area it affected. It also took a lot less energy, because the wand automatically controlled the amount of magic used. She let the chair drop back down beside her desk, pulled Parsyl to her from the desk (she liked being levitated, said it was fun), and went downstairs to find some food. She'd have to be very careful about letting anyone see what she was doing. Father might find some way to block her magic entirely if he knew she could tap it directly, and Draco, mother, and the elves could all be persuaded to tell him. _After lunch, offensive magic._

She skipped happily down the hall, catching herself and moving into a dispirited shuffle before someone noticed her good spirits. Father wasn't exactly thrilled with her outfit, and mother would obviously have preferred her hair to be up, but Ryua bolted her food and went quickly back upstairs before they could do anything about it. She had Toppy bring up some old pillows and things no one would miss, and set about seeing how to blow them up. This came a lot faster than levitating or candle lighting. Her first target toppled off her table, the second flew across the room, and the third exploded into a satisfying cloud of feathers. Ryua enjoyed blowing things up for some reason. Unfortunately, she'd soon disintegrated everything she could safely blow up. Scooping it all into a pile, she turned resignedly to her homework. Just in case Father wanted to see what she'd been doing all day, she had better have something to show him.  
  
Author's Note: Thanks to JeannieBeanie33 for coming up with both a spell and a name. This doesn't mean the rest of you are off the hook.

And Athena Diagon Cat, you did it again! I had been toying with the idea of non-wand spells, so now I really had to do it, eh?


	53. The Quidditch Cup

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
The Quidditch Cup  
  
The next few weeks passed in a similar way. Father stormed about, mother practiced being docile and faint-prone, Draco did homework and practiced quidditch, trying to stay out of Father's way, and Ryua spent almost all her time in her room. She tried to send a letter to one of her friends, only to find Father had posted Ryua's owl on a 'Fowl Weather Flying' course for the summer, effectively cutting off her contact with the outside world.

So, she finished her homework, and practiced magic. _Too bad I can't use actual spells this way,_ she thought. The occasional spell, like flippendo or firaga carried over, but more complex spells like charms or transfiguration spells didn't work so easily. She was also dabbling in rune spells, sketching intricate circles and pentagrams to boost her magic. She had to be careful with this, however, as it was much more noticeable than gathering a handful of coldfire.

And then, the World Cup arrived. Father, although he was by no means happy with Ryua yet, wasn't about to risk other wizards thinking he was a poor father. Ryua got to go. Finally able to act happy since she came home from school, Ryua was bubbling over with excitement. She and Draco were to pack up the family tents. Father, of course, refused to have to duck to enter a living abode, and so their tents were the tallest they could get away with without alerting muggles. There was one for the children (a good sight smaller inside), and one for the parents. They had their own private portkey, which was set for 8:00 PM, so they could all sleep in and have a leisurely day.

And then, there was the muggle dress code. Mother wore a simple black dress that could easily have suited either world, Father had a tailor-made matching suit, and miraculously, mother had convinced him to let the children pick their own clothes, saying they would know better what their age group was wearing. Neither one had let Father see their choices yet, as he quite possibly would have made them change.

Draco was the most 'acceptable', wearing dark blue, close fitting jeans, and a black leather vest over top. Muggles would assume it was cowhide, or something similar, although it was recognizably top quality Hebridean Black Dragonskin.

As a holdover from their toddler days when mother dressed them in matching outfits, Ryua also wore leather and jean. A short leather skirt, paired with knee-high boots, also Dragonskin, and a dark jean vest, buttoned up the front. She stubbornly wore her hair down.

Sure enough, their parents were slightly less than pleased with the outfit choices. But since the twins had just come down at 7:55, there was no time to change. They were made to carry the tents and luggage, however, which made catching hold of the portkey rather uncomfortable. They managed, too excited to complain.

Ryua had never seen a place this busy. Everywhere she looked, there were ministry wizards in varying states of muggle dress, trying to keep a handle on the constant flow of excited witches and wizards. Father even managed to keep a civil expression on his face as he paid the muggle camp director, and was pleased to note their reserved spot was directly across from the stadium entrance. As their tickets had been top-quality, they arrived just a half hour before the game begun, so they were able to go directly up to the top box.

Much to Father and Draco's disgust, and Ryua's joy, they were seated directly behind the Weasleys, accompanied by Harry and Hermionie. There was a rather tense moment as Cornelius Fudge introduced them to each other. Ryua gave a small wink and a wave to her three friends before Father was done glaring at Mr. Weasley, then affected a traditional Malfoy haughty expression.

When the Veela came onto the stage, Father had already closed his eyes, but had forgotten to warn Draco. Ryua reached up and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him down into his seat, and elbowing him hard in the ribs. "What do you think you are doing? Climbing into Ronald Weasley's seat like that..."

"Oh, shut up..." he grumbled, focusing on his shoes until the leprechauns came out. Once the shower of leprechaun gold (why did it have to be so hard, if it was fake?) ended, the teams shot out.

"So, think it'll be Ireland or Bulgaria?" Draco asked.

"It's a close call. Viktor Krum's an excellent seeker, Lynch'll have a hard time beating him. Of course, the chasers on Bulgaria are pretty pathetic, Ireland's got an excellent chance to get all those points ahead..."

"Nah, never happen. All Krum has to do is catch the snitch before Ireland scores 16 goals more than them, it's no problem."

"It's like a playover of our quidditch match, Ireland has to get points, and all Bulgaria has to do is catch the snitch before time runs out."

"Of course, we all know how that turned out..." Harry said from the row ahead.

"Shut up, Potter," Ryua snapped, "This isn't your conversation."

"Fine, Malfoy. Keep it down and watch the game, would you?" Ryua was having a rather good time. Mock fighting with her friends was so much better than trying to ignore her family. And the match was breathtaking. It did parallel their own match, actually. The Bulgarian beaters were vicious, and were the only thing keeping Ireland's score advancing as slowly as it did. _Worthless keeper..._

Being a girl at this match was definitely more amusing. While Draco and Father kept having to close their eyes at key points to avoid the Veela spell, Ryua could keep watching, and so didn't miss Ireland scoring an insane number of goals, or the Referee getting caught by the Veela spell. Of course, once the Veela went insane, and started throwing balls of fire about the pitch, they became a lot less mind-trapping to the boys. Ryua and Draco stood up and cheered with the rest of the crowd when Lynch managed to get up again, and shrieked when one of the Irish chasers nearly got impaled on a broomstick. Father, although he didn't stand up himself, didn't call them to task either. He was nearly as caught up in it as his children.

When Krum managed to catch the snitch even with a bloody nose obscuring his vision, the explosion from the crowd was incredible. And in the top box, the teams climbed up, most of them battered and bloody from the vicious match.

"Think we'll ever play professional quidditch, Draco?"

"Wouldn't that be the greatest?" Draco was full of excitement, and looked the most cheerful Ryua had ever seen him. She felt rather the same way.


	54. What Happens When Death Eaters Get Drunk

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
What Happens When Death Eaters Get Drunk  
  
It had been quite a fun evening. Ryua had managed to lose her parents and brother for a few minutes to talk and celebrate with Harry, Ron, and Hermionie, surrounded by green fireworks set off by exultant Ireland fans. Even back at her own tents, the mood was cheerful. A few of Father's friends had come over, and he and mother were talking quite happily with all of them. Draco tried to whine some firewhisky out of the adults, but was turned down. Mother had, however, gotten a case of butterbeer for the children, which made Pansy, Millicent, Crabbe, and Goyle very pleased.

Eventually the fireworks died down as Ministry wizards got to the last of the celebrators. The children were all sent off to their separate tents, as their parents came and joined the Malfoy fire. Having had quite a good day, Ryua was content to lay down in her bed and drift off into dreams of flying in a World Cup one day.

Unfortuantely, they were awoken urgently by mother sometime around 1:00 AM. She seemed slightly tipsy, and strangley excited as she shook them awake. "Off to the forest now, children."

"What?"

"Why?"

"We're going to go on a little expedition, your Father and I and a few friends..." She giggled, and Ryua was now sure she was rather drunk.

"An expedition?" Draco asked, rolling out of his bunk across the room.

"Yes, Lucius had the brilliant idea that we all go find some muggles and mudbloods! Won't that be just hilarious?"

"Excellent! Can I..." Draco started to say.

Mother cut him off, "No, this is just for adults. You two are to watch and learn, see how it's done, pick up a few decent spells, maybe."

Ryua rolled her eyes. She likely knew more spells than mother did, at least in the cursing category. "Alright, we'll go. Come on, Draco."

Although he would probably have preferred to be part of the expedition, Draco seemed happy to watch Death Eaters in action. They got to the forest edge just as the first screams started. "Who d'you think they'll find? I mean, there's mostly witches and wizards here, eh?"

"Probably that poor camp coordinater, the one always getting his memory wiped?"

"Yeah, I guess. They might go after some mudbloods too, I wonder where that Granger's tent is."

"She's in with the Weasleys, probably... they'll take care of her."

"Hmm, pity. Something's a bit odd, though," Draco frowned, the glare of burning tents reflecting off his face, "Why's mother out there? She's not the type to go randomly doing this, is she?"

"Well, as long as she doesn't have to kill anyone, she's happier, but she's _extremely_ drunk, couldn't you tell?"

"Oh, that's why Father was so generous with the firewhisky. It's a dangerous thing to do surrounded by Ministry wizards, he probably had to get them all drunk to go through with it."

Just then, Ron announced his presence by tripping noisily over a root. The twins looked over to see the trio struggling through the trees, Hermionie's wand already glowing. Ryua hid a grin at Ron's greeting, something he must have learned from his older brothers.

"Language, Weasley," Draco said, "You wouldn't want her spotted, would you?" Ryua, not trusting herself to take the proper side in this argument, turned her face back towards the camp. A large green explosion lit the forest (_Ooh, I wonder if I could do that...)_ as she heard Draco say, "Have it your own way, Potter, if you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."

"You watch your mouth!" Ryua heard Ron say, and a brief scuffle of Hermionie restraining him mostly drowned out by a really loud explosion.

"Scare easily, don't they?" Draco asked in response to the frantic screaming that had ensued after the blast. "I suppose your daddy told you all to hide? What's he up to- trying to rescue the Muggles?"

"Where're your parents?" said Harry, sounding more angry with every passing second, "Out there wearing masks, are they?"

Actually, there was no doubt in the twins' minds that Father was not only out there, he had put the whole stunt together. Of course, admitting so wouldn't be the smartest idea Draco had ever come up with, so... "Well... if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?"

Luckily, they left before things got really ugly, sensibly getting Hermionie further out of sight. "Draco, they're starting to come this way. We don't want to get hit by a spell by accident..."

"What, scared?" he sneered.

"No, but those are some very powerful spells being thrown about by some very drunk Death Eaters. I do not have a wand, you do but can't make a decent shield spell to save your life, so I suggest we go a little deeper, before the whole conversation becomes moot."

Draco sneered again, but pulled out his wand and headed deeper off into the woods anyway. "Lumos!" he said, illuminating a small section of forest. "Ah, wonderful. I can't see the bloody path! Where to now, oh fountain of eternal wisdom?"

"Get out of my way!" Ryua snapped, shoving him aside. She snapped her fingers, and a bright-white ball of fire settled nicely into her palm, showing the path ten feet to their left.

"Where did you learn that?" Draco asked in astonishment.

Ryua silently prayed that Draco would accept a really lame, spur of the moment lie. "Professor Snape showed me, three weeks before exams. I had finished my work, unlike some lazy sods, and needed something to do." Although he scowled, Draco seemed to accept her story, and just fell sullenly into step behind her. _I'd better tell Snape he's taught me this before Draco asks him about it..._

Five minutes later, Ryua stopped dead in her tracks, her ball of coldfire snuffing out as she forgot about it. "Ouch, Ryua, what's going on," Draco asked as he collided with her. In response, she pointed at the treetops, where a sparkling green cloud was just making itself visible.

"What is it?"

"Morsmordre..." Ryua whispered.

"The Dark Mark?" Draco whispered back, awed by the symbol of death hovering above them. "But it hasn't been seen in 14 years now, and only Death Eaters can fire it up... and they're all back torturing muggles."

"All of them? Apparently not. Someone must have gotten lost... or something..." Ryua knew that only Death Eaters were taught how to send it up, a copy of their own Dark Mark, to show that they had killed. She also knew that although three inner-circle Death Eaters were dead, and numerous ones populated Azkaban, there were still unknown numbers of them acting innocent wizards. Not all of the junior grade ones knew the spell, but still... "Oh Salazar, we have to get out of here."

"What? Why? A Death Eater shot it up, we're perfectly safe..."

"That's exactly the problem! What do you think, say, Arthur Weasley would do if he found us here? We're Death Eaters in many people's eyes, both of us know at least the incantation, and I could probably cast it if I put my mind to it. That's enough in a situation like this to get us expelled, if not thrown in Azkaban!" Draco paled, then started back along the path. His wand lit the way now, as they didn't need such a bright beacon calling attention to themselves.

Sure enough, they came across Father and mother near their tent clearing, already charming a portkey. They both looked the most worried that Ryua had ever seen either of them. _Death Eaters on the march, the Dark mark in the sky... we are in for one interesting year. _


	55. Start Of Term

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Start of Term  
  
"So, do you think we'll get into the Triwizard?" Lucius had mentioned earlier that summer that the Triwizard Tournament would be reinstated at Hogwarts that year. Ryua, consequently, had done some reading to find out what it was. Although she considered taunting Draco with the information, or making him do the research on his own, she was too excited to wait. He'd never read the books on his own, or do anything suitably humiliating to get it, he'd probably just hold Parsyl as hostage or something.

"Of course!" Draco crowed, "We're Malfoys, after all."

"Yeah." Part of it _was _just pure family pride, of course, but the twins knew an awful lot of offensive magic for their age, and were uncontestably skilled mages. "Unless Father decrees females can't compete..."

"Like that would stop you?"

"Well, maybe not. Anyway, I'm going to go talk with some of my Arithmancy classmates, I want to review some stuff." Draco made a revolted noise, and poked Crabbe in the back. He and Goyle had just finished loading Draco's bags onto the train, and shuffled off after him. Pleased that he so agreeably left, Ryua wandered off to find the Gryffindor Trio. _Well, Hermionie's in Arithmancy..._

She came in to a dreamy-looking Ron, talking about shoving Malfoy off a glacier at Durmstrang. "I hope you're not talking about me, Weasley!"

Ron spun around, a sheepish grin on his face. "Er, no, Draco actually. We probably couldn't get close enough to push you anyway."

"True. It would be fun to push him off, wouldn't it? And _Father_ likes Draco, _mother_ likes us both." They spent a fun two hours talking about the Quidditch Cup with various Gryffindors cycling through, and daring each other to eat suspicious Bertie Botts.

Of course, it couldn't last forever. Ryua heard all-too familiar steps coming down the corridor, and during the distraction of Seamus eating a wasabi-flavored bean, slipped out, just missing Draco and friends. The last thing she needed was Draco catching her spending full time with them. She went off to find little Ashley Snape, who was also talking animatedly about the Quidditch Cup, and joined their conversation for the rest of the ride.

"I've never seen weather like this!" Ashley complained as they ran to the horseless carriages. Ryua agreed. The rain was absolutely insane, and she pitied the first years in the small, open boats crossing the lake. It didn't actually look to get a whole lot drier inside either.

Peeves had found a bag of water balloons somewhere, and was getting ready to bombard the students below. Sure enough, he hit Ron full on, and narrowly missed Hermionie. Not at all in the mood to have water balloons hurled at her by an irritating poltergeist, Ryua sent a hot jet up at the one aimed at her group. The rubber turned to ash and the water completely evaporated, much to everyone's joy. McGonnagal came and threatened Peeves enough that he finally left through the wall, dropping the rest of the balloons on the students. Ryua evaporated another coming in her direction, and filed calmly into the Great Hall.

The sorting, of course, came before food, although they did get a handful of decent looking students this year. Ryua privately wondered if anyone noticed how their house was consistently ten or more students smaller than the rest of the school. _We're running out of slimey purebloods..._

This year, however, Dumbledore let them eat before he made announcements. After the students stuffed themselves thoroughly, he stood up to start talking. It started the same as usual, notes about illegal items, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, blah, blah, blah... and then, much to the horror of Ryua and Draco (the only two people left on the Slytherin team) he announced the Quidditch cup wasn't taking place. He spoke into the appalled silence, explaining that there would be something else happening instead, when the doors opened with a crash.

There stood one of the most worn looking people Ryua had ever seen. He was almost completely covered by a sopping wet traveling cloak, but she could hear a wooden leg clunking as he walked. One eye was obviously a replacement magical one, but the most disturbing thing... "Draco, most of those are curse scars!" Ryua hissed. She'd never seen so many on one person, and only Harry had one on his face. That man must have been in a lot of fights, and probably tortured too...

"May I introduce our new DADA teacher, Professor Moody," Dumbledore's voice rang out over the stunned silence. He and Hagrid clapped, then stopped quickly when the rest of the stunned crowd failed to join in. Instead, he continued to explain that the Triwizard Tournament would be held here. This was no big surprise to Ryua, although the addition of an age line was.

"Too bad about that restriction, eh?" Ryua asked Draco on the way downstairs.

"I still think I'll try for it."

"You really think you can get past Dumbledore's own age line? Good luck." Ryua skipped down the stairs, then stopped dead with a groan as she saw Blaise Zabini walking toward her.

"Ryua! So good to see you!"

"What do you want, Zabini?" _Ugh!_ She thought, _He's even worse now... _

"Oh, I'm hurt, Ryua," he said, with a puppy dog expression on his face. "I just wanted to talk..."

"We're talking now. What's so important that you have to say, come on."

"Okay, come here," He pulled her out of the main flow of Slytherins and turned to face her. "Just because our fathers came up with some bizarre, outdated plan doesn't mean we have to become enemies overnight, okay?"

"We weren't_ exactly_ best friends before, Zabini."

"True," he looked down at her with startlingly dark eyes, eyes that even now held a deep, mocking glint to them. "But we're going to have to get along."

"I doubt it. Get out of my way." He reached out an arm to stop her. "Listen, just relax and give me a bit of a chance, okay? You don't have to fall all over me, just don't be quite so automatically rude."

She glared up at him, hand twitching to either hit or curse him. Unfortunately, one of the prefects was walking past, and she didn't quite dare. "Fine. I'll behave if you will. Now get out of my way. _Please_." _I am going to kill Father for this..._


	56. The Amazing Bouncing Ferret

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Just an interesting bit: I actually started writing Ryua's story in the fourth, fifth, and seventh books. This means, I'm finally getting to the points I originally wanted to write. I'm all excited, and a little weirded out. They've been sitting in my head so long I don't know if they sound dumb or not... we'll just have to see. Also, I might have to raise the rating again, I noticed my chapters I'm thinking of putting in are starting to get bad...  
  
And Cassie Darkwind came from JeannieBeannie33, thanks. You know, I can never decide whether I enjoy reviews from my faithful reviewers, or from new people more. It's all good. (Hint, Hint)  
  
The Amazing Bouncing Ferret  
  
"Eurgh!" Ryua heard as she crossed the grounds to her Care of Magical Creatures class with the rest of the Slytherins. She sighed. Charms had been a dismal failure as usual, so she had really been hoping this class would make up for it. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be going that way.

When she looked down into the boxes waiting innocently for them, Ryua had to suppress an eurgh of her own. Blast-Ended Skrewts, eh? They looked rather like mutated lobsters to Ryua, and not in any way edible, cuddly, intelligent, or useful. "What is the point of them?" Draco asked, echoing her thoughts.

Hagrid actually managed to come up with a half-decent reply, although it was painfully obvious he'd be spending the entire night coming up with a reason for owning a Blast-Ended Skrewt. He sent them off to try feeding them bits of bizarre food choices. "I can't believe he's making us feed them snakes. That's just cruel. And eggs? He expects them to eat eggs?"

"What, you got a better idea?" Draco looked positively revolted at both the creatures and their food.

"They seem to enjoy the frog liver, sort of. Although, by the way they're lunging after your fingers, I think they'll enjoy human best." Ryua said, quite seriously.

"What? You're not feeding them my fingers!" he yelped, pulling his hands quickly out of the box.

"Of course I won't feed you to them, brother dear."

"I don't trust that expression, dearest sister."

"Good." She grinned. "You shouldn't."

"So, are we going to disembowel some first-years, then? Maybe that irritating girl, the Darkwind kid..."

"Cassie? You just don't like her because she doesn't worship you the way the rest of the female population seems to."

Draco glared, not quite able to come up with a response to that. Then, a slow, evil grin spread across his face. "At least I'm not the one saddled with a fiancé to try and shut me up."

"Why, you..."

"Good morning!" Blaise's all-too cheery greeting came from right behind her. She moved away, rather disgusted when he sat himself right between them.

"You know, Zabini, we were having a conversation here." _Not that it was a very cheerful one, but..._

"Oh, come on, you can keep talking when I'm around! I don't mind..." He smiled at Ryua, an actual smile, not the calculating grimace or sneer she was so used to seeing.

_Maybe he actually is trying..._ "Okay. Sorry, these creatures aren't exactly a calming influence," she said as she pulled her hand out of the way of an exploding Skrewt. Ryua was keeping a very tight rein on her tongue. The way things were likely to turn out, she'd have to be friends with this guy at least until she turned of age. She had better try to come halfway.

It was hard, though. Ryua didn't naturally get along with people, and had trouble with guys trying to be nice to her. Even Draco was rarely nice, and Ron and Harry still treated her fairly formally, as a casual friend. She couldn't banish the thought that Zab-Blaise was automatically closer than that, and the way he kept trying to open her mind up was unsettling. Luckily, before too much longer, Hagrid called lunch, and Ryua managed to break off from him and walk with Millicent up to the castle.

Arithmancy, too, was sans-Blaise, something she much appreciated. Hermionie, miraculously, hadn't noticed him hanging around, and didn't ask about it. _Good_, Ryua thought. There was no way she was going to tell her friends she was betrothed to someone at 14 years. _I really am going to have to come up with a cover story for that..._

And just before supper, something happened which made Ryua's whole day turn good. She rounded the corner to the entrance hall, coming up from the girls' room, when she saw Draco taunting Ron about something. She was on her way to break it up when Harry jumped in too. Ron, responding to some instinct, backed off into the crowd, which turned out to be a good thing. As Harry turned away, Draco blasted a spell at him. It would have likely caused Harry some moderate pain if it hit, but her brother's useless aim ensured just a light graze. She had just pulled out her wand to disarm them both when...

BANG! Professor Moody had gotten there first. Although, he hadn't just disarmed Draco, he appeared to have turned him into a ferret. Even better, he proceeded to lecture him about never attacking from behind like a scummy coward, bouncing the madly protesting ferret against the floor to punctuate his words. Ryua, although brimming over with giggles, tried to act shocked at Draco's treatment.

All too soon, Professor McGonnagall came down the stairs. "What-what are you doing?"

"Teaching"

"Teach- Moody, is that a student?" she shrieked, dropping her books onto the landing.

"Yep!" he said, quite cheerfully.

"No!" Much to the disappointment of most of the people standing in line for dinner, she was able to turn him back with barely an effort. She started to lecture Moody, who amiably took her advice and marched off with Draco to arrange a detention with Professor Snape. Interestingly, he appeared to know both Lucius and Snape quite well. Well of course he does, he's an auror... Although it still didn't sit quite right. Oh, well, she could smell spaghetti and meatballs for supper, which was altogether more important.


	57. Defense Against The Dark Arts

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
I am going on vacation for a week. I really don't remember if my aunts have Internet, or if they have a word processor I can upload from either, so it could be a while before anything gets done.  
  
Defense Against The Dark Arts  
  
All the Slytherin fourth years were vibrating with excitement. Stories about Professor Moody's classes had been flying around the school for days now, and this was the first time he'd be teaching them. Ryua already knew he was good with transfiguring things, thanks to the ferret episode, and that he knew about spells and dueling, thanks to his Auror background, and those scars promised tales of some very interesting curses.

What none of them expected was to be shown Unforgivable Curses. _I guess this is what had the Gryffindors in such an uproar._ When Harry, Ron, and Hermionie had come back from their class, they had been maddeningly close- lipped about the whole thing, saying she'd find out for herself. She was definitely finding out.

Moody didn't even blink when he asked for Unforgivable Curses and more than half the class put up their hands. He demonstrated the Imperius on a spider, much to the hilarity of most of the class. Ryua was too busy trying to figure out how to cast it, even more so when he used the Cruciatus curse. _Pity that's not blockable..._ Now that she was old enough to officially know about the curses, Father may just start in with them, especially if she were to do something 'bad'. She herself named the killing curse, having read about all three in books, watching intently as Moody flooded the spider with green light. Needless to say, Ryua wrote down everything he put on the board carefully, intrigued for later study.

Of course, the class after this, he decided to start putting them under the Imperius curse. Most of them were completely unable to do anything about it, and were forced to do some rather incredible things. Crabbe and Goyle were by far the most stunning, launching into a graceful flamenco dance across the cleared classroom. Draco, although he still paraded around, twirling his wand like a baton, did at least manage to twitch and drop it a few times, much to Moody's pride. He praised him, giving him a chocolate frog for his efforts, and called Ryua up in his place.

The first thing she noticed was a complete sense of happiness, like she was soaring gently on her broom on a warm summer night. As Ryua rarely felt happy, she was quite content to just relax in the feeling. Of course, it couldn't last forever. A voice started gently telling her to do a handstand, itching in the back of her head. _I can't do a headstand..._ **Yes you can**, the voice said. _Why should I?_ **Because you want to.** _No, I don't, stop telling me what to do!_ Her imperious Malfoy blood was acting up again, and she was not about to act on some half-baked, useless little request. Of course, the fact that she was rather used to being cursed probably helped... **I SAID NOW!**

Although Moody had probably intended to shock her into obeying, it had rather the opposite effect. In Ryua's mind, the shout was much like Father at full fury, only far, far worse because it was directly inside her mind. She let out an ear-piercing shriek and collapsed on the floor from shock, as a wave of fear-magic blasted three of the desks into matchsticks. She sat there, frozen, not even noticing the class looking at her, only glad the hazy, disquieting happy mist had finally left her mind, with it the echoes of the command.

Moody, although rather rattled at her extremely violent response, held out a hand to help her up, saying gruffly, "Well done. Haven't seen many witches strong enough to break free that quickly." She looked up at him with haunted, furious, confused eyes. It was the only part of her showing emotion, however, as she coolly accepted his help up and walked back to her place. Vaguely noticing the chocolate frog she'd earned for defeating the curse, she absently unwrapped it, remembering Lupin's words about chocolate. It wasn't as effective as for dementors, but Ryua still felt revived a bit by the sweet, creamy taste. She shook her head, clearing away the last of her shock, and swallowed the last of her chocolate.

_That was one of the worst experiences I've ever had._ Not only was she caught in an extremely powerful curse, it truly had seemed like her Father was the one yelling in her head. Of course, that had had the double effect of making her absolutely, beyond doubt, refuse-until-death to do whatever was being asked of her, but it also had paralyzed her with a fear she had always been able to repress or ignore. Right inside her mind like that... she shuddered. She hadn't been expecting it in the least. Although now... _Father won't be able to use that one on me._ Now that she knew what it did, what the curse felt like, there would never be anyone able to control her like that again. She flatly couldn't, wouldn't let her innermost guards down, she could never have that much trust and calm.

She snapped out of self-reflection when she heard Millicent singing in a duet with Blaise of a beautiful rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle", however. _Well, he's got a decent voice, although that's probably part of the spell_... It was completely cheering, however, to see his face flush a deep purple when Moody lifted the curse. After that song, no one would remember about her turn...

The professor standing at the front of the room watched her calculatingly through the magical eye. He wasn't lying when he'd said he'd never seen a reaction like that. Not in all his years of very personal contact with the Imperius curse, had he ever seen someone able to shatter it like that. There was more than just Malfoy stubbornness there. That girl had a mix of power, pride, and a deep fear he couldn't quite figure out. Once this was all over, he'd have to ask Lucius what he'd been doing to her. What ever it was, it likely was having the opposite effect he intended.


	58. The Other Schools

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
I'm back (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing this...)  
  
The Other Schools  
  
"Draco, is that Viktor Krum?"

He blinked. "Yeah. Didn't think he was still in school. Lucky, getting into Durmstrang..."

"Yeah, but it would be horrid to live somewhere that cold, look at those cloaks." Ryua shuddered, as usual just a little bit too cold for comfort, especially with the thought of living at Durmstrang. "They look more cheerful than Beauxbatons though, look at them."

When the Hogwarts students sat down at their tables, they were quite pleased to be selected by Karkaroff to share their dinner space. Relieved to see some faces he recognized, Krum shuffled along to sit between the Malfoys. "I saw you at the Cup, yes?"

"Yes, we were up in the top box. I'm Ryua,"

"And I'm Draco Malfoy."

"Ah. Twins?"

"Yep!" they said in tandem. They didn't speak like that too often, only when they had similar interests. In this case (and most often), that was quidditch.

"Yes. I am very pleased to meet you. Vould you pass me those... those... vat do you call them..."

"Rolls?" Ryua proffered a basket of warm buns and a dish of butter.

"Yes, thank you much." Once you got over Viktor's thick accent, he was actually really a good conversationalist. Of course, the fact that quidditch terms didn't change much from language to language helped some. He was quite impressed to learn they were both on the house team ("It is interesting that you haff women on your team, is very progressive") and spent much of the meal describing various broom stunts and the like.

"Who'd ever have thought Viktor was such a cool guy?" Draco enthused as they descended the stairs to their dorms. "I mean, he's not just good a quidditch..."

"Yeah, he's really cool." Ryua had enjoyed having someone to talk to over dinner. It wasn't something they did much at home, and most of the Slytherin House was pretty short in the conversation department. "D'you suppose they'll be staying the entire year?"

"Probably, Karkaroff's one of the judges, right?"

"Cool."

A week later, everyone was waiting in the Great Hall after supper, staring fixedly at the Goblet of Fire perched on the Head Table. Viktor had dropped his name in a few days ago, although he had politely refused Draco's requests to add theirs in too. He'd said, "It's vorth more than the thousand galleon prize to put someone else's name in. Karkaroff vould not be amused, yes?" Being whose children they were, Ryua and Draco understood. Karkaroff hadn't been a particularly outstanding Death Eater, but that didn't mean he was the soul of gentleness and forgiveness either.

"The champion for Durmstrang is... Viktor Krum!" Although secretly no one had doubted this result, everyone cheered quite exuberantly as he made his less than impressive way up the Great Hall. "And for Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacouer!"

"What are you staring at, Draco? Pansy'll get jealous."

"I'm not staring at anything...I, uh, I'm just making sure I'm applauding in the right direction..." he said rather lamely. Ryua snorted in disgust as her brother's eyes followed Fleur's gently swaying body up the aisle between them and the Ravenclaw table.

"...Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore's voice rang out. "

Diggory? No way, how'd he get picked?" Draco shook off his dreamy look in the blink of an eye, replacing it with disgust.

"No idea." Neither of the twins really liked Diggory, as he had been the captain of a rival quidditch team last year.

"Well it could be worse, at least it's not a Gryffindor..." He trailed off as the Goblet flared for a fourth time, flicking another piece of parchment up into the air.

"Harry Potter." Every head in the hall turned to look at the Gryffindor table, where Harry was sitting as if thunderstruck. "Harry, up here, if you please..."

"How did he get his name into the goblet?" Draco hissed.

"No idea." _And I plan to find out_. "He doesn't look very happy, does he?"

"...no, he doesn't." Draco said, sounding surprised. "Wonder why?"

Ryua thought on that for the entire evening, not really paying any attention to the textbook sitting open in front of her. _The chance at the Triwizard, the prize of a thousand galleons... why isn't Harry happier?_ She set down the quill that she'd been twiddling uselessly between her fingers for the past twenty minutes._ It couldn't be that he'd be afraid, could it? He's a better wizard than that..._

"So, what are you thinking about?" Ryua jumped. Blaise had just plunked down opposite her.

"I, I... er..." He smiled that irritatingly charming smile of his at the fact that she was so tongue-tied. _Great. That arrogant little cuss, he thinks I'm besotted with him now..._ although really she just didn't think it was a good idea to discuss her thoughts on Harry Potter in the Slytherin Common Room. _Although..._ "Just thinking about how a little snot like Potter got into the Goblet of Fire."

"Yeah." _He's buying it, thank Salazar..._ "He's better than most people believe, I think. Either that or he's just plain lucky."

"I bet luck's a big part of it, although he does have a few skills."

"Wonder how he got those living with a bunch of muggles?"

"Hmm, probably Granger. She's always reading a lot, probably trying to make up for being a mudblood (_Sorry, Hermionie...)"_

"Yeah, probably. As much as I hate to say it, it seems to be doing some good. Not as much as bred in, good natural magic, of course," he added hastily.

"True," _Am I actually having a halfway decent conversation with Blaise? Maybe he's not so bad after all... Well, we'll just have to see if he keeps this up. _


	59. Meeting Parsyl

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Meeting Parsyl  
  
Ryua skipped down the front stairs the next morning, shielding her eyes against the bright sunlight coming in over the forest. Although Ron had been at breakfast, Hermionie had left early, and Harry was nowhere to be seen. And seeing as how Ron refused to talk about Harry at all, Ryua decided she ought to go find him herself. "Don't you dare eat those grapes Parsyl." Ryua had filled her bag with some fruit and cheese from breakfast, guessing that Hermionie's small stack of toast wouldn't be enough to feed two people.

"Morning Hermionie, Harry!" she said.

"Oh, good morning." Hermionie replied.

"Potter, how the blazes did you get your name in that Goblet?"

"Not one to mince words are you?" Harry sighed. "I didn't."

"Didn't?"

"Someone else did."

"Who? Johnson? I didn't know cheating was part of the Gryffindor requirements..."

"No, Angelina didn't, she was just as surprised as everyone else. Moody thinks it was some powerful wizard."

"Hmm, yeah, to get across that age line of Dumbledore's, he'd have to be. Say," Ryua said, pulling some apples out of her bag, "Feel like some more food?"

"See, I told you people would believe you!" Apparently, Hermionie had been trying to make Harry feel better about no one believing his story.

"Yeah..." Harry said slowly, torn between stung pride at being proved wrong and relief that Ryua wasn't about to ditch him too.

"What? Don't like apples? I grabbed a banana and some grapes too, although you might have to wrestle Parsyl for those... How about some cheese?"

Harry gave a very small grin, although as it was the first smile he'd worn since dinner yesterday, both the girls were very pleased to see it. "Yeah, some cheese would be good. But, who's Parsyl? I've never met her in the school."

"My snake, of course. She's a real lazy beast, always getting carried around, not to mention fed by every first-year Slytherin that comes near her... I can't believe I've never introduced you, just a minute..." Ryua rummaged around in her bag for a second, seizing Parsyl's middle and drew her out, trailing grapes. "Here. Now be nice Parsyl, you won't be able to boss Harry around."

Harry really did smile when he picked up Parsyl. Recognizing a kindred spirit, she immediately became much better behaved than usual, arranging her coils familiarly around Harry's forearms. [Greetings, Parseltongue.]

[Uh, hello...]

Although snakes don't have the proper equipment for laughing, Parsyl clearly did. [Not used to talking to the Serpentine Children, are we?]

[Well, not really, I suppose. Or at least, not having them talk back. I set a python loose on my cousin once, before I even knew I was a wizard...]

[Well done on that account.]

[Thank you.]

[You are courteous, for a human.]

[For a human? Just how many of us do you talk to?]

[Well, you're the first I've had a true conversation with, to tell the truth. My mistress, although she can understand you speaking in our language, cannot tell more than _my_ most basic meanings.]

[That must be frustrating. Wait, Ryua can understand what I'm saying?]

"Yep!" Ryua said cheerfully, starling a very confused Hermionie. "Can't speak it though, and I can only understand wizards and Basilisks."

"Weird."

[She's really quite considerate, for a human. Not at all like the Lord.]

[Lord?]

[Of course, Harry Potter. The Dark Lord. The one called He Who Should Not Be Named. My mistress and her family have never spoken his name, but I have heard his voice, as only snakes can.]

[You mean Voldemort's alive somewhere?]

[Not truly, not yet, although we of the Serpentine have always been aware of his spirit haunting the world. But you knew this already, did you not?]

[Yeah, I suppose... listen, it's been really cool talking to you, but Hermionie's feeling rather left out by this point, so I'm switching back to English.] "Sorry Hermionie, I didn't mean to ignore you like that..."

"Oh, it's quite alright," she said in a slightly shrill tone. It had been rather eerie to watch what appeared to be a hissing contest between Harry and a rather large cobra for five minutes, not to mention the fact that Ryua jumped right in like they were speaking perfect English to each other. "Er, Harry, are you sure that snake's perfectly safe?"

"Safe? This lady? No more than Professor McGonnagall or Ryua is safe. Oh," he said contritely at the expression of fear crossing her face, "she's not going to bite me, or you, and definitely not Ryua, don't worry. Although, I wouldn't want to be the person making life difficult for Ryua... Parsyl's easily offended, and very protective." He said, handing the moon-white cobra back to Ryua.

"Of course she is! She's mine, after all. Harry, I don't suppose you could teach me to speak Parseltongue, could you?" Ryua said wistfully.

"I don't think so. Apparently, it's an inborn trait, runs in certain families. You either have it, or you don't."

"Or have it halfway."

"True. Ever read about that, Hermionie?"

"I don't think so." Hermionie seemed much more relaxed with Parsyl set down on Ryua's other side and the conversation switching to books. "Although, it's not like many people study Parseltongue, it's not exactly common enough to make comparisons on."

"Well, there are two Parselmouths alive today, Hermionie, plus me to throw a little extra into the mix. Maybe you should be the first to publish a theory on it!"

"Oh, come on, as if You-Know-Who would ever consent to a study. I can see it now: 'Ah, Mr. Dark Lord, I wonder if you could say a few phrases for me in Parseltongue?' 'Of course, my dear... _Kill the Mudblood, my snake!_' Or something like that."

"Well, maybe you've got a point there." Harry said, an apple in one hand and a small orange cheese in the other. "Still, it would be kind of cool, wouldn't it?"

"Sure. Right. And Fred and George are tied for Head Boy."

"Yeah, maybe it wouldn't work so good." Ryua said as she pulled a handful of grapes out from under a protesting Parsyl, who was trying to soak up the morning sunlight. "We'll have to find you some other obscure thing to write a novel on, then."

"Oh, ha ha. Didn't it ever occur to you that I might not be destined to be some braniac author of complicated magic texts?"

Harry and Ryua looked at each other. "Nope!" they said, starting to giggle.

"Well, maybe you're right on that one," Hermionie said, laughing with them.  
  
Author's Note: I didn't expect this chapter to be so long, I had meant to fit a bit more in. Unfortunately, I then realized that Parsyl and Harry hadn't met yet, so their conversation just kept building. It's a wee bit confusing, but I really don't feel like rewriting it, I've got another chapter yet to edit.

Thank you to Athena Diagon Cat, JeannieBeannie33, and whoever else I've forgotten for reading my story.

Thanks to AshleySnape for taking the time to find my story and read my little footnotes.

A really big thanks to raven dragonwing for writing, like, a novel in the review section. Are you the same dragonwing who reviewed my story before you got an account?


	60. Skrewts and Charms Overcome

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Skrewts and Charms Overcome  
  
Eurgh time again, Ryua thought as she trudged unwillingly towards her Care of Magical Creatures class. The skrewts had been growing steadily, and Hagrid had hinted yesterday that they might be exercising them. Extremely wary at the idea of the skrewts being out of their boxes, Ryua had left Parsyl in the dorms that morning. The last thing she needed was for her snake to get eaten, burnt, trampled, poisoned, or otherwise harmed by the nasty things.

Of course, she didn't exactly want herself to be the recipient of any of that either. So when Hagrid had given them all a skrewt on a leash, Ryua had held her wand ready. Sure enough, the nasty thing immediately tried to leech onto her leg and suck a few quarts of blood. She flicked her wand at it, sending a jet of burning sparks at its unprotected belly. Suddenly, it didn't seem at all interested in bloodsucking. So, it tried to dash across the yard dragging her in the mud behind it. Of course, there was no way Ryua was about to be dragged through mud. "Tarrentallegra!" she whispered, pointing her wand at the nasty thing. The thing started to kick its legs randomly in every direction, reducing its effective speed to a sedate walk. Hagrid was pleased with the way she had managed to 'get along wit' 'im' so nicely, and awarded Slytherin five points. Hiding a smile, she lifted her skrewt into the box, lifted her jinx, and walked happily off.

That night, Ryua happened upon her brother spelling a small, black circle. "What are you doing?"

"Making buttons. Wanna help?"

"Not particularly. What are they for, anyway?"

"Well, if I can get the words to stick to them, it'll say something like: 'Support Diggory, the real champion'"

"How fascinating."

"No, no it gets better! When you press it, it'll flash "Potter Stinks" instead, and you can switch it back so no nosy teachers get stuffy and give you detention."

"Aren't you supposed to be doing Charms work? Your mark isn't any better than mine at the moment." He waved his hand vaguely and started back to charming the little circle. Giving up, Ryua walked over to the couch, pulling out her own Charms essay.

She flipped through her book, opening the chapter on cutlery and china. Five minutes later, she had written her name on the top of the parchment. Ten minutes after that, she had added a title. "Looks like you could use some help," a voice observed over her shoulder.

She jumped, whirling to see Blaise leaning on the back of the couch. "Well, that depends whether you know anything about charming teaspoons to do a synchronized ballet."

"Yeah, Charms is one of my better classes."

"No way. How can you do it? I can never seem to get them to work properly."

"Well, I'd be pleased to help you with it. Draco's always asking me to proof his work, of course his writing's so messy anyway that it doesn't much matter..."

"Well, thanks. It'd be a big help, I guess. Need any help with Potions? You give me that essay on willow bark, and you write this one. Deal?"

He laughed. "Deal. I've never gotten those natural painkillers." Swapping books, they proceeded to write what promised to be much better essays than before.

Unfortunately, her Charms essay was remarkably better than ever before. Good enough, in fact, that Professor Flitwick held Ryua back at the end of class the day after she handed it in. "I was just reading your essay last night, Miss Malfoy."

"Yes, sir?" Ryua said, forcing her tone to stay calm as she stared fixedly at the blackboard.

"And I've noticed that you suddenly have, shall we say, improved?" For such a tiny creature, he certainly knew how to skewer a student with his gaze. "Now, I'm not against you getting help, young lady, in fact I think it would be an excellent idea. However, you may not hand in other people's essays as your own."

"Yes, sir." Ryua said, quietly. She wrenched her gaze away from the blackboard behind him, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I... I promise I won't do it again, sir, but please, please don't owl my Father about it. I promise I won't do it again, I was just so lost with those confounded spoons... and I couldn't take another failing grade."

"Of course. I'm not quite sure why you seem so unable to get the gist of my class, Miss Malfoy. You do very well in your other classes, and I've seen the amount you try."

"My wand is mostly meant for Transfiguration and cursing, sir..."

"Well, that could be part of it, I suppose. And, well, I'm sure you'll find some way to attain a good grade in this class, regardless of your block. I won't tell your parents about this, as it seems to be an isolated incident, but if you try to hand in someone else's work again, I will have to take measures, you understand."

"Yes sir. Thank you." _That was too close..._ _I guess I should just take my own near-failing grade next time... or something._


	61. The Buttons And The Prophet

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Athena Diagon Cat made an excellent point yesterday: Ryua uses some charms very well, although she has difficulties with the class. The answer is that a charm like Silencio can be used for nefarious purposes, or even a purpose that you can actually see. Subconsciously, Ryua learns 'useful' magic (namely anything useable in a duel or similar situation) easily and willingly. Deep down, she sees no real purpose in making spoons perform a ballet, for instance, so her magic refuses to waste itself.  
  
The Buttons and The Prophet  
  
When Ryua made it into the common room that morning, she was rather astounded to see Draco. Not only was he awake well before he needed to be, he was downright chipper. He was bouncing from person to person, handing out something in great quantities. "Morning Ryua, here you go..." he said, dropping something metal and round in her hand, skipping off to ambush a bunch of sleepy second-years coming out of the dorms.

She looked down at the object and groaned. _Looks like Draco's managed it... How did he get so bloody good at charming things?_ The little black button sitting so calmly in her hand spelled out in glowing red letters: **Support CEDRIC DIGGORY- the REAL Hogwarts Champion.** _Ugh, he is so immature_. She briefly considered trying to spell it to say Harry's name instead, but aside from getting her into trouble with certain people, it probably wasn't something she could do anyway. Ryua contented herself with dropping it casually in the fireplace on her way up to breakfast, where Draco and entourage handed them out to whoever would take them (a surprising number).

DADA wasn't actually too bad, mostly because there were no Gryffindors present, they being off in Charms. And no one seemed to thing Moody would find the buttons amusing, so they didn't make an appearance. Even though Ryua knew most of the spells Moody lectured on from her readings of dusty old tomes at home, this was the first time she'd had a chance to discover why they worked, how they could be modified, blocked, strengthened... altogether a good class.

And Potions in the afternoon! Ryua was cheerful about that for a few seconds, considering it was her best class, but then remembered it was with the Gryffindors. _Oh well, Harry's fairly mature, it shouldn't bug him that much..._

Of course, she hadn't betted on Hermionie being more upset than Harry. "Oh, _very_ funny, really witty." She said sarcastically. Ron, being as sullen as ever, didn't comment, although he didn't join in the laughter either.

"Want one, Granger?" Draco asked, "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, see, don't want a Mudblood sliming it up." _Of course he'd bring that up..._ And it was that which finally goaded Harry into action. He pulled his wand, ignoring Hermionie's protests. "Go on then, Potter, Moody's not here to look after you now – do it, if you've got the guts..." Draco said, quietly teasing, drawing his own wand. Ryua ducked behind Goyle just as they set off curses.

With a freak occurrence, both spells managed to ricochet and go spinning off wildly to hit Hermionie and Goyle, narrowly missing Ryua who fit nicely behind his bulk. He was covered in ugly boils, which probably stung horribly. _Nice curse, Harry..._ And poor Hermionie appeared to be growing an impressive set of fangs. Of course, when Snape showed up, things only got louder as the entire Slytherin house tried to say what had happened. Not one to miss a chance to get Harry in trouble, Snape pointed at Draco for an explanation. He sent Goyle off to the hospital wing, but rather unfairly passed right over Hermionie. She left on her own, sobbing now. Since Goyle, her partner this week, was in the Hospital wing, Ryua hung back to the end of the queue, so she could sit with Harry with the excuse that he was the only one open. He was fuming, naturally. "That little arrogant, biased, slimy- haired..."

"Harry, don't. He'll hear you." Ryua tried to calm him down as much as possible without arousing suspicion. Oddly enough, Snape seemed to do it for her, announcing he would be poisoning someone at the end of class. Harry blanched slightly, knowing perfectly well that Snape planned to poison him, likely with something no one had an antidote for. "Why does he hate you so much anyway?"

"He and my dad were pretty bad rivals in their day, as bad as me and your brother. Apparently, I look almost exactly like him."

"Seems a dumb reason to hate you. He's got a lot of hate built up though, I guess you're just the most accessible outlet." Harry was just about to ask what she meant when Creevy (the elder) edged into the room, saying Harry was wanted by Ludo Bagman. Luckily for Harry, he not only got to leave, he wasn't even supposed to come back later for testing.

It turned out that life wasn't a lot better for him up in the photography room. Rita Skeeter, bane of anyone famous, had written a rather horrid four-page piece of drivel for the Daily Prophet on Harry. It was probably supposed to have been about all four Triwizard Champions, but their names (Flour Delicur and Victer Krum, there was no mention of Diggory) were squashed into two lines at the very end. The rest was completely blown out of proportion, and completely out of character. Ryua couldn't help laughing with her fellow Slytherins at it, although probably for different reasons. Of course, Draco was the one who waved it in Harry's face.

She felt really sorry for him after a while. Everywhere he went, people quoted _'...I still cry about them..._' and '..._has at last found love..."_ and similar bits and pieces, offering him tissues, jeering about his 'top marks'... Needless to say, he was rather on edge. So when Ryua scooped up his quill and handed it to him, he started in on a rant about going off to cry about his dead mum if no one minded. "Well fine, if that's the way you really feel about it..."

Harry jumped. Apparently, all he'd noticed was the Slytherin green on her robes and hadn't bothered to even try to identify her. "Oh, sheesh, I'm sorry Ryua... I didn't know that was you..."

"Meh, you're allowed to blow up, considering all this crap you've been going through. And even if you actually did feel sad about your parents, it's none of their business, right? We've all got perfect families..." Ryua trailed off at that. She couldn't actually imagine feeling much sorrow about her Father... "Anyway, good luck on Tuesday!"

"Er, thanks." Harry seemed rather at sea, hearing the first nice words he had in days.

At least Hermionie seemed to be holding up. She was much more secure about herself, and had only been mentioned for one paragraph as Harry's first true love anyway. In fact, the two of them had had a rather excellent giggle about it during Arithmancy, imagining wedding plans, ridiculously long, sappy love poems (your beautiful bushy hair... exquisitely ink-stained fingers...), and what the children of Harry and Hermionie would look like (eurgh! Could you imagine? They would never have a good hair day in their entire lives...). When they separated for lunch, in fact, both Ron and Harry recovered from their animosity to ask what was so funny, and Ryua bulled her way through with a slightly edited version of the truth for Pansy and co.


	62. The First Task

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
The First Task  
  
Harry and Hermionie fell upon Ryua when she was peacefully walking into the library early one morning. "There you are!" Harry exclaimed. "We've been looking everywhere, where've you been?"

"Er, in my common room, with the rest of the Slytherins?" Ryua said, rather taken aback at their overenthusiasm.

"Oh, right," Harry said.

"Listen, never mind that now," Hermionie cut in, "Ryua, do you know anything about dragons?"

"Sure. Why do you want to know?"

"Er..." Hermionie seemed a bit reluctant to say.

"Because it's my task on Tuesday, and I have no clue what to do!" Harry's nerves had been streached past the reluctant point, apparently. "We've been searching the library, but didn't find anything..."

"Okay already, let's sit down, alright? The middle of the doorframe isn't exactly a good place to have this conversation." Ryua led them to a nice, secluded little table and dropped her Charms homework without a second thought. "Now, what do you want to know?"

"Any weaknesses, or anything that would let me disable one or get past it somehow."

"Okay... well, a dragon's hide is impervious to just about erverything, that's why we use it for protection... it's claws can cut through anything from oak to granite, depending on the dragon... their flame has anywhere from a 20-50 feet range and the hottest can melt just about anything shy of admantine..."

"Admantine? What's that?"

"Unfortunately Harry, not something you can get easily. It's a very rare metal, theoretically indestructible, especially when magic-forged." Hermionie rattled off, sounding like a periodic table or something.

"Fine, admantine's out. How about a_ weakness,_ Ryua?"

"There aren't many. Dragons can swim, although they don't like to, so something really wet might annoy it... they like music..."

"Can't sing."

"Fine, be that way. You could make yourself really small, but not something a dragon might like to eat..."

"Unless Moody transfigures me for cursing someone, that's not happening."

"You are really being obstinate, aren't you? What're you so worried about, anyway? Dragons don't usually eat humans, at least not 2/3 of them, and Dumbledore'll have fed them so they won't go rampant. Just act very nonthreataning and walk past it."

"I don't think I can." Harry said glumly. "Charlie said they requested nesting mothers for some reason, I bet we have to get something from the eggs or something."

"Nesting mothers? You have got to be joking! They'll eat you if you get anywhere near their nest! Dragons are fiercely protective of their eggs... speaking of which, I wonder if I could get one..."

"Not you too!" Hermionie groaned, "Hagrid's already wondered that, could we please focus?"

"Okay, okay. Well, if you try to harm an egg, she'll do anything to stop you, maybe you can do something with that. Or you could try for the inside of it's mouth..."

"And how do I do that? Get eaten?"

"Well ..."

"Nuh-uh. Forget it. I'm not going anywhere near that head."

Ryua sighed. "Well then, I'm just about out of ideas. If you raise a dragon from the egg, it's fiercely loyal to you and would never harm you, but nesting mothers... that's just dangerous. I don't know, Harry. Have you asked anyone else?"

"No, I just found out last night. Fleur and Krum know, but not Cedric yet. Maybe I'll tell him, and we can brainstorm."

"Yeah, maybe. Don't you both have Herbology or something? That puts me in Transfiguration, I've got to get up to the tower before McGonnagall kills me..."

"I guess. Sprout might just feed us to a Venomous Tenticula or something. If you think of anything, tell us, okay?"

"Of course." Ryua picked up her bag full of (yet again) unfinished Charms work and left for Transfiguration.

Oddly enough, it turned out to be Harry and Hermionie who came up with an idea. They accosted her on her way out of the Great Hall at lunch. "Harry's been given an idea!"

"Yeah, the problem is, I can't work it."

"Really, what is it?" Ryua asked.

"I'm going to fly circles around the bloody great creature! The only problem with that brilliant plan is that I can't bring my Firebolt with me."

"Oh. That is a bit of a problem, isn't it? Well, you're good at Charms, just summon it." Although she couldn't work most of them, Ryua knew the spells.

"I can't do a summoning charm. I failed the lesson miserably."

"So, we figured you and I could coach him!" Hermionie concluded.

"Whoa. Wait. You actually think I can do a summoning charm?" At their blank looks and slow nods, Ryua sighed. "I'm failing Charms at the moment. For some reason, I can't seem to get about ¾ of them to work, and Accio is one of them."

"Oh..." Harry seemed rather saddened by this news.

"However, I know very well that Hermionie can summon anything to exactly where she's standing. So, get help from her, and come back to me when you need to blow something up or cause great amounts of pain. I'm really good at that."

"Well fine than. Be completely unhelpful!" Harry yelled in a mock-angry voice.

"Of course! Why would I help a whiny little Gryffindor like you?" She grinned and walked off, praying with all her might that Hermionie could teach him that charm. _Especially because than she can teach it to me..._

Tuesday arrived bright and clear. Harry wasn't eating at breakfast, although Hermionie was cajoling him to eat some oranges or something. Ryua filed out with the rest of the students, finding a seat right on the edge of the Slytherin house so that she could cheer without attracting attention.

After twenty or so minutes, a Sweedish Shortsnout dragon, crouched on a pile of eggs, was manipulated with complex levitating spells into the arena. Cedric Diggory came out, looking absolutely terrified. The whistle blew, and he started scanning the arena frantically. Unfortunately for him, the grassy circle had been cleared of all debris, to allow for maximum room. He charmed his boots to levitate above the fence, spotting a rock about the size of a footstool twenty or so feet away. Staying carefully as far from the Dragon as possible, he dropped to the ground, levitating the rock in. He then started what Ryua recognized as an extremely high-level Transfiguration, and formed the rock into a loud, obnoxious, hyper Black Labrador. Diggory directed it off, trying to distract the dragon, as he snuck towards the nest, aiming for the tiny golden egg sitting on the pile. It actually looked like he'd get it, too, until the dragon roasted the dog with one puff, and turned back to Diggory. Everyone gasped as he broke into a desperate run to get the egg, and screamed as he dove from a jet of blue- white fire, cluching the egg in one hand, and running as fast as he could away from the dragon, trying to bat the flames on his head out with his other. Professor Flitwick dumped a floating globe of water on his head, dousing the fire, and pointed up at his marks being shot up by the judges as a dozen wizards stunned the dragon and switched it with a Common Welsh Green.

Once Diggory was safely in the hospital tent, Fleur was summoned out to meet her dragon. She started up an insanely complicated charm, also from the very far corner of the arena, one so complicated that Ryua couldn't recognize it. The dragon started to droop, slumping down on it's nest, leaving the golden egg just outside one talon. Fleur gulped, moving quickly but very quietly towards the nest. She got to the very tip of the dragon's tail when it let out a loud snore, which involved a large ball of fire, being a dragon. Fleur jumped, stifling a scream, and sent a jet of water onto her skirt, dousing the flames. Shaking now, she scrambled up to the egg and caught up the glittering gold one, and the dragon-wizards immediately took over. Her scores were shot up, she took an elegant bow, and walked into the tent to have light burns along her leg taken care of.

Krum was next, facing a very large, very irritated Chinese Fireball. It kept snorting balls of flame, keeping him at a distance. Ryua kept jerking in response to his awkward movements on the ground, wishing he wasn't quite so clumsy and slow. Wonder why he isn't flying? With a sudden decicive movement, he darted in under a particularily large fireball and sent a Conjunctavus curse at the dragon's eye. He's got a good aim. The dragon reared back with an ear-splitting scream of pain and rage, bucking and trampling around the arena. Ryua winced as egg after egg was broken underfoot. Krum finally managed to dart in under the tail and grab the golden egg out of a gooey mess. He glanced up at his scores, then shuffled off, as usual, not enjoying being in the spotlight.

And then it was Harry's turn. Looking very small, and very scared, Harry walked into the middle of the field, and Ryua could faintly hear him yelling "Accio Firebolt!" at the very top of his lungs. She sat forward on her seat, breathing out a huge sigh of relief as the sleek broom hurtled into the arena. Once in the air, Harry seemed much more relaxed. He ducked a few jets of flame, then managed to coax the Horntail up off her eggs just enough. He dove into a near-vertical stoop, not even shuddering as the dragon's tail dug into his shoulder, tearing a gouge halfway down his arm. Easily snatching the egg, Harry pulled out of the dive, and was immediately ushered into the hospital tent. Apparently they were worried he'd be poisoned.

When he came out, Harry didn't seem much interested in his marks, Ryua noticed, because not only was Hermionie on one arm, Ron was on his other, shouting insults up at Karkaroff who had only given Harry 4 out of 10. Oh, good. Now they should all start acting like themselves again.


	63. The Christmas Ball

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
The Christmas Ball  
  
Ryua was sitting in the back of the Charms classroom, trying to convince her textbook to change colors in proper succession when Professor Flitwick called for their attention. Willingly dropping her pitiful excuse of a rainbow charm, Ryua tucked her wand into her robes and gave her undivided attention. "Now, I've been lucky enough to be the teacher in charge of you this block..." he trailed off, smiling at the snorts of laughter coming from the Slytherin fourth years. "And as such, I have an announcement about this Christmas break.

"The schools have decided that we will be hosting a Christmas ball. The school champions will be opening the dance, to the music of the Weird Sisters," he was forced to stop again due to the wild cheers erupting from the class. "Oh, dear, I don't think I was supposed to say that...Dumbledore wanted it to be a surprise..." he squeaked, and was cut off again by laughter.

"Anyway, this will take place during the Christmas Holidays, so if you want to attend, you'll have to stay here, which, if I may say, is probably a good thing to raise your marks..." Groans cut him off this time. "Yes, well if you all paid attention during class, you wouldn't have so much homework, you know. You will need to find a partner to go with... yes, a dance partner. If you cannot find someone, you may go on your own, but it is recommended that you find a partner. So, please finish your scroll on Rainbow Charms, just 500 words, not too big, and I'll see you next class!" he said as the students got up to leave for lunch.

"Excellent! This means we get to stay here this Christmas!" Ryua said to Draco, one row ahead of her.

"Yeah, except it also means we have to dance..."

"Oh, come off it. You like dancing almost as much as I do."

"Nooo..." Draco said as he pushed Crabbe along in front of him.

"It'll make you one of the most popular guys at the dance. Neither Potter or Krum can dance, I'm sure. Girls will be lining up to dance. We love dancing."

"Really?" Draco looked suddenly much more cheerful at that. "Uh, I mean, I'll have to think about it..." Ryua snickered.

One of the more cheerful things in the Malfoy Manor was the dancing lessons. As nobility, even though it wasn't nearly so important today, Lucius and Narcissa both believed that the children should act their rank. The only enjoyable part of that was learning the dances. They both knew square dances, waltzes, salsas, archaic circle dances, jigs... just about any partner or group dance ever designed, to a certain degree. Mother had taught Ryua some solo dances too, although Father was never told about those. He'd probably have told her it was not proper for a lady to dance on her own, and forbidden it, after a healthy punishment, of course. Ryua and Draco had been each other's partners for most of it, mostly because they'd been the same size. And being twins, they knew exactly the other's movements, style... in other words, they were excellent partners. _I'll have to drag him off his chair once or twice..._

Ryua had been expecting Blaise to follow her. It was a given, considering their... connection. He was being less irritating lately, something she was very grateful for, since he seemed to like following her around. "Hey, Ryua, are you staying for the dance?"

"Yes..."

"Are you going with anyone yet?"

"Blaise, we were just told about it three minutes ago, no one's had a chance to ask me."

"Oh, good." The expression of relief on his face was comical. "So, would you go with me, then?"

"Well... I... if I go with you, you have to promise to keep your distance. I don't want you doing anything creepy."

"Don't grope the date. Gotcha. So, will you go with me?" Ryua smiled, hesitantly.

"Well, I guess. Sure."

"Great!" Blaise whisked off to go egg Draco on. He appeared to be teetering on the verge of asking Pansy, and completely refused to when Blaise showed up over his shoulder. With an odd, unfamiliar sensation in her stomach, Ryua walked off to lunch. Hopefully, some food would make her feel more normal.  
  
Not everyone appeared to have so much ease in finding a date. Two weeks later, Harry and Ron were still looking for dates. While guiding them through a shrinking potion one day (Hermionie was over at Neville's cauldron), Ryua asked, "Why don't you just ask some girl you know? It should be fairly easy, half the people in the school are female."

"It's not that easy... All the girls we know have been taken already." Ron said.

"Really? How many have you asked?" At their complete lack of response, she said, "Yeah, I thought as much."

"As if you could do better!"

"Of course I could." Harry frowned. "Well, are you going with anyone yet?"

"Yes. It only took me three minutes from the time Flitwick told us."

"Oh..." he seemed somewhat abashed, Ryua thought, probably because she'd just shut down his defense.

"So, ask someone. The worst that can happen is she'll say no, right? And anyway, you're Harry Potter. Everyone'll be wanting to go with you."

"Well, where does that leave me?" Ron asked, wearing his best sad-puppy-dog look. "Oh, you're not all that bad yourself, Ron. You're tall, sweet, and you have red hair and freckles. If you just acted with a bit more confidence, you might see a difference."

"Yeah, confidence would help. He hasn't even been able to ask Hermionie, or you, and you're our friends."

"Hey, it's not like you've done any better!"

"Is there something you'd like to say to the rest to the class, Mr. Weasley?" Professor Snape's voice cut across the classroom, effectively ending the conversation.

The day of the ball arrived, to the great excitement of everyone in the castle. No one was doing homework. And in the girl's half of the Slytherin dorms, there was nonstop chatter. "Where in Salazar's name did you get that dress, Ryua?"

"If there's one thing mother takes care of, it's making sure we're well dressed." Ryua smiled, holding up her dress robes. Although she'd always wanted a backless dress, Ryua knew it wasn't exactly the best style for her. So, she compromised. The fabric gathered up around her neck in a halter-top, hugging her body down to the hips and flaring out, leaving the back open. The back of the dress was like an attached cape, flowing down from the collar, and twisting around just covering her scars to fall over her left hip, leaving one shoulder and a section just below the cape on her back bare. The entire dress was black, in flat light. However, when it moved, the entire thing lit up with glitter like a star-filled night. After a few charms from Pansy to convince her hair up into a twisted fall of silver-gold, she was ready.

Blaise was already in the common room, dressed in black robes, next to Draco, also in black. _He really should have let mother get him the dark blue, it's so much less boring_. "Ready to go?" "Of course, my dear." Blaise proffered his arm. After suppressing a shudder at being called 'dear', Ryua slipped her fingers onto his elbow and together they walked up to the Great Hall.

Harry, with Parvati, Krum with Hermionie (_What? When did that happen?),_ Diggory with the Ravenclaw Seeker, and Fleur with Davies were just opening the doors, to show a very decorated Hall with the Weird Sisters set up in one corner. Harry looks rather uncomfortable, Ryua thought, as Parvati steered him around the floor for the opening dance. After the first dance, Blaise pulled her up on the floor, and he actually managed to pull off a fairly decent waltz, he didn't even try to pull her too close. He wandered off to find some punch, just as the Weird Sister One announced Ryua's favorite song.

With a wicked twinkle in her eye, Ryua dashed over to Draco's chair. "Come on." She said, pulling at his arm.

"Oh, no, I'm quite comfortable here."

"What? Scared? Don't think you can keep up with me?"

Promising Pansy he'd be back in a moment, Draco stood up, following Ryua out onto the floor. "You'd better remember how to do this."

"Of course. You'd better save your breath." The twins had learned a dance to this song, a dueling dance. It was a strange combination of flamenco, waltz, and the fantastic throws from ice-skating, and could be performed with flames, spells, daggers... but any of those would get them expelled, so they were just going to do the dance on its own. As the opening chords started up, they moved into the first steps. Like many dances, it started much slower, picking up as the music went on. Ryua loved dancing with her brother. They were just so well matched, allowing them to embellish a little. Other couples were also starting the dance, and the flash of competition in Draco's eyes was matched by Ryua's. At the first of the tosses, Ryua managed two spins, and the people clustered around them moved back a bit. Ryua heard one girl shriek and hit the floor as her partner dropped her. She wouldn't be the last. As the music sped up, so did the dance. The footwork alone caused two more couples to trip and fall, and three more fell on the next two spins. Setting up for the finale was difficult for most people, just because they were so out of breath by this time. Although the Malfoys were as out of breath as everyone else, they never had troubles understanding each other. Ryua moved back a few steps, just touching Draco's fingertips with her own, and rushed in. With the added momentum of her run, Draco could toss her very high. High enough, in fact, that several girls shrieked. Ryua concentrated as she flew up, whipping her arms out and sending multicolored sparks flying in a flat circle, causing some Hufflepuffs she vaguely recognized to duck and screech. She couldn't really blame them, she'd designed it so it resembled a fiery, magical saw blade. Ryua pulled her arms in at the last possible second, cutting off the spray of fireworks, neatly landing back in Draco's arms just above the floor. He smoothly pulled her up, to a round of cheering from the Great Hall. Breathing hard, she bowed low to her brother, at exactly the same moment he did. Grinning, she spun away to find Blaise. She could really use a drink now.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Blaise's voice was both stunned and approving.

"At home. Is that punch, I'm dying of thirst."

"I bet, that looks like hard work. Hey," he said as he handed her a glass, "Why don't we go outside, it's lots cooler there."

"Good idea." Ryua sipped at her punch as they walked outside. "Wow. Flitwick did a great job, didn't he? This looks great." The garden was truly beautiful, and the fairies near enough to hear them giggled and blushed at her words.

"Yeah..." Blaise's voice sounded odd, odd enough that Ryua turned to look at him.

"What's wrong? Punch too sour-hey!" For a split second, Ryua thought she'd been fouled by a quidditch player. Blaise had practically tackled her, sending her reeling into a rosebush, with him pressing down on her. She opened her mouth to protest, only to have the shock of his tongue getting shoved in. So, she did what seemed natural.

She bit down. Hard. Until she tasted blood, and felt him pulling away, yelling, and she let go. Ryua spit a mouthful of blood down onto his robes and said, "I believe I said keep your distance, Zabini. I meant keep your distance." He was making incoherent moaning sounds, blood spreading in a pool from his mouth on the ground. She knelt next to him, holding her robes out of the pool. "Listen to me very carefully, you disgusting, worm-eaten, offspring of a rat and a camel. If you ever touch me again, I will kill you. And if I'm in a bad mood, I'll curse you so badly, kill you so slowly, that you will feel an eternity of pain, and be begging me with every scrap of your soul to give you death." She rose, and drained the last of her punch to clean her mouth of the taste of him. With a carefully calculated toss, she smashed the glass inches from his face, enjoying the way he flinched away from the shards.

Suddenly feeling much better than she had in months, she walked back in to the Great Hall. _Father's not going to be pleased with me._ Oddly enough, she wasn't even really worried about that. Her adrenaline was high, she still could taste a hint of blood (which somehow didn't disgust her as it probably should), and she wasn't going to have to talk to Zabini again for a very long time (_Especially if I really bit his tongue off...)._ Life was looking good.  
  
Author's note: People have been giving me advice on this chapter for ages, and asking questions about it, and giving opinions on Blaise. Obviously, I couldn't respond without giving it all away, so just realize I didn't forget you all. I've been so excited about writing this chapter... it's so much fun to be bloodthirsty. And I'm sorry if the dance is rather confusing. I have an idea of it in my head, but it's really hard to describe.


	64. Christmas Ball Repercussions

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.  
  
Christmas Ball Repercussions  
  
_It's a really, really good thing Snape likes me_. Ryua had found Dobby waiting for her (out of sight of Draco, of course) in the common room when she got back from the ball. She was initially shocked and happy to see him, and he hugged her around the waist, squeaking, "Dobby is very happy to see Miss, Dobby is working here now... Miss isn't angry, is she?" After numerous reassurances, Dobby relaxed enough to let go and take several deep, gulping breaths, wiping large tears of joy on his horrendous purple tie. Suddenly he hiccupped and his eyes went wide. "Dobby is here to tell Miss something. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore says, 'Tell Miss Malfoy to talk to Professor Snape, she is doing things she has to talk about.'"  
  
"Oh... Uh, thanks Dobby. I'd better go do that... Nice to see you..." So, Ryua walked down the corridor, feeling very glad that Professor Snape liked her so much. Assaulting a fellow student wasn't something taken lightly in Hogwarts, especially if it caused real injury. She knocked hesitantly at his door, and opened the door at his curt call. "Sir, you wanted to see me?"  
  
"Yes." Snape was sitting behind his desk, looking surprisingly satisfied. Probably because of all the students he'd been deducting points from in the garden, she reflected. "Mr. Zabini arrived in the hospital wing ten minutes ago, holding his tongue in his mouth with one hand, dripping blood all the way down to the garden."  
  
"Ah."  
  
"He seemed quite incensed, on the surface, covering a thick layer of fear. Madam Pomfrey has said that he keeps jumping at sudden movements, and is scanning the shadows."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"In particular, he seemed quite unwilling to return to the common room until I had spoken with you."  
  
"I see."  
  
"You realize you have to defend yourself a little. I cannot fabricate an entire story."  
  
"Sir, do you honestly think I could bite his tongue off without his very direct involvement?"  
  
Snape grinned, a very rare expression on his face. "I see. I take it he was acting very much against your orders."  
  
"Against mine, yes. Unfortunately, he... well, sort of he has kind of has permission already."  
  
The momentary happy expression on his face was replaced by fury. "If we were not in Hogwarts, in my very own office, with one of the few people I trust, I would not say this. Your father is an extremely backwards-thinking fool. Doing something this ridiculously old-fashioned and restrictive to one such as yourself is not only repulsive, it's stupid."  
  
"Stupid?" Ryua was teetering between joyful amusement and fear at his words.  
  
"Yes. He is hidebound, and foolish to think you will stay in his hidebound rules. One way or another, he will realize this. And I doubt you will have much difficulty in making your own way. Anyway," Snape said, jotting down a few notes, "I will tell the headmaster that you were assaulted and were simply defending yourself in the best way available. It is, of course, the conclusion he already came to, but we needed your confirmation."  
  
"So, I'm not expelled?"  
  
"No." Snape was the firmest Ryua had ever seen him. "Anyone is more than entitled to defend themselves in such a situation. And if your father, or anyone else ever tries to say different, tell me. They will not hold that attitude for long."  
  
"Thank you, sir." And Ryua left, before she got mushy or something. Snape, the bitter, silent, distant Potions master was the closest thing Ryua had to a true father figure, at least she thought so. He wasn't nearly so nice as Mr. Weasley seemed to be, and was certainly more willing to leave her to her own devices than her own F-father. _But,_ she mused,_ anyone who offers to torture people who disagree with me has to be on my side, right?_  
  
It turned out that Zabini wasn't any more likely to spread the events of that night than she. He completely avoided her, which was preferable to her, and it only took a cool glare to dissuade any questions. It wasn't until school started up again, actually, that she discovered anyone else had gone through any troubles that night.  
  
Pansy Parkinson, for a completely unexpected change, woke Ryua up on Monday. "Look at this," she squealed, tossing a copy of the Daily Prophet at Ryua's head. She caught it, pushing herself up to a sitting position to read the paper. The front page was covered with a picture of a ducking Hagrid, and a large, nasty article written by none other than Rita Skeeter.  
  
"Hagrid's half-giant?" Ryua asked, looking up from the article.  
  
"Yeah, can you believe it? He could have been grinding our bones for his bread, or something creepy like that."  
  
"Right..." What Ryua wondered was how Rita kept coming up with this stuff. There was no way she could have been in Hogwarts to hear Hagrid talking, someone would have seen her. And she had never for a moment believed that Harry cried about his parents at night, and he certainly wouldn't have admitted it to the world if he had.  
  
Unfortunately, she had appeared to come up with something true this time. Hagrid wasn't teaching when they got to Care of Magical Creatures, and there was a unicorn instead of the two last Blast-Ended Skrewts. "What's going on? That stupid article can't be true, can it?" Ryua asked the Trio.  
  
"What? What article?" Ron said.  
  
"So that's why no one's surprised," Hermionie said thoughtfully.  
  
"I assume Rita Skeeter's shoveled out something horrid about Hagrid this time." Harry was understandably bitter about Skeeter.  
  
"You're absolutely right, Potter," Draco drawled, swaggering over. "There you go, hate to break it to you..."  
  
Harry snatched the paper. You'd think, by now, they'd be getting a subscription themselves instead of waiting to find out from my brother. "How did she find out?" Ryua backed slowly out of the group, as they started to argue back and forth. She hated it when they fought, because she wanted to support her friends, and her brother at the same time... it just was a lose-lose situation. Instead, she went over to pet the unicorn, blissfully ignoring everything but the soft white fur. 


	65. The Second Task

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

The Second Task

Not long after the Hagrid story appeared in the Daily Prophet, Harry got more and more edgy. Ryua could tell he hadn't even started the egg clue, he was looking far too shifty whenever anyone asked about it. And then one day, late in February, looking as though he hadn't slept all night, Harry sat next to Ryua in Potions, Ron and Hermionie directly behind them. "I need your help!" he whispered hoarsely.

"What with?" Ryua asked, measuring out purified maple syrup into a glass.

"I've figured out what I'm supposed to do at the task..."

"About time..."

"Oh, shut up."

"Now, now, Harry, if you want my help you'll have to do better than that."

"Sorry, I'm just a _little _nervous at the moment," Harry said, his voice taking on a slightly hysterical note.

"Alright, alright, relax a bit. What's the task?"

"Water. The merpeople in the lake will be stealing something of mine, and I have to go get it."

"Left it a bit late, haven't you? I mean, the task's in five days."

"I know, I know..."

"We've been searching the library constantly," Hermionie put in from behind.

"And even Hermionie hasn't been able to find anything," Ron added.

"So, we're asking you now, maybe there's a forbidden curse or something we can't find in the library..."

Ryua frowned, chopping up tiger moth wings. "I can't remember curses like that. I know of a drought spell, but unless you get a dozen or so wizards working, you'll never drain the lake. I could try transfiguring you into something with gills... but we haven't done human transfiguration yet, I could kill you by evaporating your lungs and not giving you gills or something."

Harry shuddered, passing her some Dead Sea salt. "Yeah, that wouldn't work well. Any other ideas? Maybe a potion that would keep me supplied with oxygen?"

"Well... Snape did say something about a water potion... but it requires a day of brewing for every minute you want oxygen, not to mention the month before hand to get the ingredients ready..."

"And I've only got five days," Harry groaned.

"Not to mention that it requires ingredients even Snape doesn't have much of. And I doubt he'd lend even me ingredients right now, he's been having loads of people stealing stuff... he's convinced it's you, Harry."

"I have never been near his office. Well, unless you count the time in the second year when he took me and Ron there to expel us," he said in a careful voice.

"Right. Well, I can't think of any curses... unless you just don't want to breathe..."

"What curse is that?"

"Avada Kedavra."

"Oh. Never mind then. I doubt Harry could live through that a second time," Ron said, keeping a very close watch on what Ryua was doing to her cauldron, and trying to duplicate it.

"Is there anyone you haven't asked yet?"

"Well, teachers... but I'm not actually supposed to have help at all. Other than that, I can't think of anyone..." Harry stopped abruptly and jumped out of his chair as Neville's melting cauldron sprayed a very acidic mixture over where Harry had been sitting.

"I don't know, Harry. It's probably some bloody charm you need, or something else I don't know anything about." Ryua poured her finished potion into three flasks, handing one to Harry and adding just enough iron filings to the smallest to simulate a melted cauldron and dropping it on Neville's chair. He gave her a look of surprised gratitude and stopped trying to scrape his own into a bottle, and started the much easier task of mopping it up normally.

Although Harry was in no state to notice the day before the task, Professor Snape handed back their marks. Neville was overjoyed to receive a solid Average, and Ryua was amused to see that while her potion earned an Outstanding, Harry's identical one barely made Average. "He really does hate you, doesn't he?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah..." Harry was staring off into the distance, obviously deep into the lake.

"I'm sure you'll find something, Harry, don't worry..."

_(Professor McGonnagall, Staff Room, After Dinner)_

"Assez-vous, Mme Delacour, et la petite une." Professor McGonnagall said in a terrible accent and questionable grammar. For some reason, Dumbledore had never learned French, so it was up to her to explain things to Fleur's family. Luckily for her, Cho Chang walked in just then, and seeing the terrified expression on the little girl's face, started a game of dots and lines on what appeared to be the back of her Transfiguration essay. Minerva made a mental note not to dock marks for it. With many mistakes and halting phrases, she explained the task to Fleur's mother while her little sister was occupied. Severus sat in the corner, a nasty, amused grin on his face, Flitwick was playing with dust bunnies, and the Headmaster was studying the pattern on the silverware. _Useless bunch..._

Just then, the Weasley twins walked in, loudly announcing Hermionie, Ron, and Ryua. From the corner, Severus sat up straighter as he saw his prize Potions student walk in with a gaggle of Gryffindors. Albus stopped counting silver flowers and smiled as he looked up. "Ah, the last of the things have arrived."

"Things, sir?" Ryua, always the proud Malfoy blood showing through...

"The things the contestants will most sorely miss, of course!"

"Oh, that makes sense, I suppose." Hermionie said. Minerva quietly noted that none of the three seemed at all confused, although Cho did. Flitwick started to explain it to her, while Albus went on explaining about charming them.

"Sir, there're two extra people here for Harry." Ron said.

"Only one, actually. Miss Granger, you'll be the goal for Mr. Krum." Hermionie blushed at McGonnagall words.

"Actually, there is no contest between Ryua and yourself, Mr. Weasley." Severus said, rising from his chair in the shadows. You have been Mr. Potter's friend the longest, so you shall be the one chosen. Come, Ryua."

_(Ryua, Corridor outside, One minute later)_

"Sir, if I may ask..."

"Why I did not allow you to be one of the objects?" Snape replied as he strode down the corridor, "It is quite simple. Not only would life be uncomfortable for you if you were the thing Harry Potter most sorely missed, your father would not be at all amused."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess he wouldn't." _It might be interesting to see what kind of a rise I could get out of him that way though... nah. He'd probably try to kill Harry._

The next morning, Harry wasn't at breakfast. Neither were Ron or Hermionie, of course, but they had an excuse. Harry didn't appear at all, actually, even when the other Champions were lined up at the lakeside, the rest of the schools watching from the specially charmed stands so they could see the Champions' progress underwater. Suddenly, "There he is!" one of the Creevy brothers screamed, pointing wildly. Sure enough, Harry was pelting across the grounds, something clutched tight in his fist. He nearly collapsed at the feet of the other Champions. The judges, Karkaroff in particular, didn't seem inclined to let him catch his breath, either. The whistle was blown almost immediately, and the four students waded into the lake.

"And Miss Delacour is performing an excellent Bubble-Head charm, I see, and so is Mr. Diggory... a very nice, airtight job from both of them..." _(Hah! I knew it was a charm...)_ "And Mr. Krum appears to be well on his way into a Transfiguration spell... Oh my goodness! It's a shark! And he appears to be out of magic for the spell, but I suppose all he needs is those gills... And Mr. Potter, the widely acclaimed underdog, is eating something... Yes, it's Gillyweed! A good choice that, it'll give him gills and webbed limbs for an hour and a half, a chunk that size, more than enough time to get his prize out of the water..." Ludo Bagman didn't stop talking the entire next hour. He described the different obstacles they'd be facing, from Grindylows through the Giant Squid, right up to the Merpeople themselves.

Harry managed to curse off the Grindylow that attached to him, and wisely swam above the weeds after that. Krum spent five minutes biting a few in half, and wasn't bothered by anything else. Poor Fleur wasn't nearly so lucky, when she swam past the patch later on. Alerted to the presence of prey in the water, they ambushed. Obviously, they didn't have Grindylows in whatever part of France Beauxbatons was in, because she panicked. There were Grindylows in her hair, clinging to her arms, legs, robes... although she put up quite an impressive fight anyway. By the time she discovered that you could break their fingers off, she was nearly exhausted, covered in scratches, and her bubble was battered. In fact, one Grindylow made it its sole target, and it suddenly collapsed. Fleur kept her head enough not to scream and waste her air, instead propelling herself upward with a Banishing charm. She flew entirely out of the water, shedding the last of the Grindylows, and hit the water again with an incredible smack. Professor Flitwick levitated her to shore, where Madam Pomfrey set about reviving her.

At the same time, Harry arrived in the center of the village. He cut Ron free, and then with the trademark Gryffindor heroic-ness, tried to get the girls off the statue too. Even though the Merpeople refused to let him, Harry stubbornly floated just above the floor, waiting to make sure the other Champions arrived on time. _What an idiot... As if Dumbledore would have let any of them die._ Diggory did show up, just as the first hour passed, and hauled up Chang without a second look. He was greeted with a loud round of cheers, and proudly supported Chang the whole way back, even though she had more energy than him. Ten minutes later, Krum showed up. Apparently, a shark couldn't hear very well, and so he had trouble following the Merpeople's song. He set at Hermionie's ropes with his teeth, and Harry wisely handed him a sharp rock before he ended up biting her in two.

Fifteen minutes more passed, with no sign of Fleur, of course. Harry gave up waiting, and threatened to curse the entire village of Merpeople _(That's the way, Harry! Curse whatever's in your way!)_ They scattered, and he cut Fleur's little sister out too, hauling both her and Ron up through the water. Unfortunately, the Gillyweed was wearing off, Ryua could see his flippered feet shrinking. The Merpeople were swimming up with him, although not offering any help. Ryua saw him starting to choke on the water he was still trying to breathe into his newly-reformed lungs, and then his head broke water. Thankfully, this meant that Ron and Gabrielle woke up and could move on their own. Ron actually did most of the work on the way back, because Gabrielle couldn't swim and Harry was completely drained.

Fleur, who had been revived just minutes before, was fighting with an incredible amount of strength, eventually winning free of Madam Pomfrey. She hugged her little sister, then leapt up and kissed both Harry and Ron, who both went bright red.

And then, the judges gave marks. Since no one had actually made it back within an hour, no one got full marks. However, Fleur got twenty-five, Diggory got forty-seven, Krum got forty, and although everyone else thought he deserved full marks, Karkaroff beat Harry's score down to forty-five. Tied for first place with Diggory, it looked like Harry's life was looking up for a change.

Author's Note: Does anyone know Flitwick's first name? It just occurred to me that I knew just about every other teacher's full name, but not his. And, the book said that Professor Vector is the Arithmancy teacher, but oh, well, I feel too lazy to change it, so it's staying Sinistra.


	66. Hermionie's Turn

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Hermionie's Turn

This morning, Pansy woke up Ryua by throwing Witch Weekly at her head. Once again, Quidditch reflexes let her catch it before her mind had completely accepted that she was awake. When she opened the pages, she immediately found what Pansy wanted her to see. 'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache' was spelled across the top of the page in ugly fuchsia letters. It wasn't a very long article, but managed to be sufficiently humiliating for Harry, Hermionie, and poor Viktor to boot.

Handing back the article in disgust, Ryua made her bed, deactivating her heat web with a poke of her wand, and went off to get dressed. She had been sleeping much better since she got that heating web in the Dominican, and never woke up so cold as before. Still, that hot shower or bath in the morning was always something she looked forward to.

In Potions, Pansy dropped the article right in Hermionie's lap. Sitting back with Crabbe this time, Ryua could only catch hints of the conversation that followed. _Well, at least she seems amused by it..._ Unfortunately for them, Snape also heard snatches. "Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger, I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor." He swept over to properly glare evilly at them, ignoring the _Potter Stinks_ badges flashing everywhere. And then, to make matters worse, (or possibly more amusing, depending on your point of view) he picked up the copy of Witch Weekly and started quoting it aloud. Although it was completely slamming her friends, Ryua had to smother a few giggles, Snape really did have a knack for humiliating people. Of course, he split them all up afterwards, and none of them were put with Ryua. Poor Ron looked rather panic-stricken to be left without anyone to help him...

Just before the end of class, Karkaroff slunk in, looking even more shifty than usual. Ryua pushed Crabbe out the door, then shrunk back into the shadows behind a cupboard, noting that Harry had also managed to duck out of sight under his desk. "What's so urgent?" Snape hissed when the class was empty.

"This," Karkaroff responded, pulling up his left sleeve. "Well? Do you see? It's never been this clear, never since-"

"Put it away!" Snape was scanning the classroom, looking as worried as Ryua had ever seen him.

"But you must have noticed-"

"We can talk later, Karkaroff! Potter! What are you doing?"

"Clearing up my armadillo bile, Professor," Harry replied, the picture of innocence. _He's good...Of course, it doesn't make Snape like him any more..._

Karkaroff strode out, worry apparent in every step. Harry scampered out at double time, correctly interpreting the ferocious expression on Snape's face. Ryua detached herself from the shadows after she was sure they were both gone. "Sir?"

Snape looked up from brooding at his desk, face full of an unfamiliar expression; fear, maybe, or regret, worry, she couldn't tell. "Oh, Ryua..."

"Sir, what's wrong?"

"You... you would be better off not knowing." Ryua had never seen Snape look so open, so full of human emotion.

"If it involves you and Karkaroff, I know that I'll find out anyway at home. And I would prefer to find out from you than my father. Please?" her voice was calm, not reflecting the feeling of foreboding, of something huge about to occur stirring deep in her soul.

"This is something you should hear from..." he broke off with a low laugh, running his fingers through his hair. "I was going to say from your father. It isn't something you should ever hear at all. You know about Death Eaters, yes?"

"Of course."

"We are all... marked, branded to show our loyalty. The Dark Mark... it was used to summon us. When the Dark Lord wished for our presence, he would cause the Mark to burn, turning a deep black, and we would all disapparate, appearing at his location automatically." Snape stopped, taking a deep breath. "When Harry Potter reflected that curse... and it rebounded on our Lord, the marks burned with a most acute pain, then faded, faded to almost nothing. Up until a few months again... when it started to redefine, becoming sharper, visible even out of moonlight. It can only mean one thing."

"He's back." Ryua said, in a barely audible whisper. "He's got a Death Eater who found him, and he's coming back."

"I am truly sorry this had to happen during your lifetime. I had hoped He would at least wait until you had grown, had a life of your own." Snape looked bitter, bitter and scared. "It would help if any of us knew how many there still were, how many were free, how many were true... who was helping him now...."

"Peter Pettigrew."

"What?"

"Harry found him last year. Sirius Black wasn't the one who betrayed the Potters, it was Pettigrew all along. And he escaped last year, Harry told me all about it when I asked."

Snape now looked incredulous and angry. "Potter? You're actually friends with that little worm?"

"As opposed to most of the people in my House?"

"I suppose you have a point there. But still... Potter?"

Ryua smiled at the look of disgust on his face. "Well, he is a Gryffindor, and that could be better, I suppose. But, he hasn't tried to choke me with his tongue either."

His face twisted in agony. "Ugh. I did not need that image in my head, you revolting girl."

She outright laughed this time, and it cleared some of the worry from his face too. "Well, I don't exactly love thinking it either. I'd better go to lunch, get that taste out of my mouth..."

"Yes, go away. Get out of my classroom!"

"Yes sir!" Smiling, she walked out of his office.

"Ryua," he called softly after her. She turned back at the door. "I would appreciate it if this conversation was never spoken of again."

"Of course, sir."


	67. Snuffles and Studying

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

I apologize greatly for not updating sooner, I'll give you a list of reasons:

1- I have a job now. I'm an apprentice cabinetmaker, I work 7-4:30, Mon-Fri, which has left me completely exhausted. Of course now that I'm done my third week, I'm much more normal, so I should have enough energy to sit at a computer once in a while.

2- My job also is during almost all of the library hours, so I can't get to the Internet.

3- The summer librarian wasn't here the last two weekends, so I couldn't even get online on my days off.

4- When I did finally get online, it was for a half-hour, and I had 62 e-mails. I've been swamped, and I'm still not done getting back on top.

5- I've been writing a timeline for my story. This way, I can look back and go, 'okay, Ryua first becomes friends with Hermionie in CH 6, book three', which is very helpful, but it took me six hours.

6- I have two new video games, and a whole lot of overdue library books I haven't read yet, so I have divided attention during my leisure hours.

7- And, most serious of all, and most basic, I have had writers' block. I've got a lot of the fifth book written, but I couldn't start this chapter. Now, however, I'm going to attempt it.

So, that's why I haven't updated, and I'm sorry if I don't get it up more than once a week. I'll try, but it's hard to write a story, and get it down to the library, on limited time, after a 9-hour day.

Snuffles and Studying

Ryua, Harry, Ron, and Hermionie trudged along the road in Hogsmeade, packing chicken and pumpkin juice. "Do you actually think Snuffles will talk to you if I'm around?" Ryua asked, shifting her pitcher of pumpkin juice.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe. I hope so, it seems really mean to make you lug that stuff all the way up here, then not have him talk to you."

"Well, this is where he said to meet him, we're about to find out." Hermionie said, putting her plate of chicken on top of Ron's.

Sure enough, Harry spotted a tail, ear, and one back leg of what was obviously a very large dog sticking out from behind a fairly small bush. "Snuffles? It's us, are you asleep?"

The dog unfolded itself, shaking out a few brambles, but stayed behind the bush, not quite growling. "Oh, Snuffles, don't be like that, she's our friend."

"No, I understand." Ryua sighed. "I'll go do something properly evil instead. And don't worry uncle, I didn't poison the juice." And she walked off, feeling slightly sad, but not really. She'd just go pick a fight with someone in the Hogshead, or something.

_(Sirius Black, Cave above Hogsmeade, Ten minutes later)_

"Harry, what are you doing hanging around with a Malfoy? You know what they're like!" Sirius was not really amused. He hadn't much liked Narcissa, although she certainly hadn't deserved to marry that slimy excuse for a human. And the offspring took after the father, of course, it was obvious from a single glance, not to mention a smell. That girl smelled like dark magic and pain, bad news...

"Oh, Sirius, Ryua's not like that!" Harry was quick to defend his friend.

"Yeah, she's much nicer than Draco..."

"Or her parents." Hermionie said as Harry set Ryua's pitcher of pumpkin juice on a convenient stone.

"And anyway," he said, "she already knew a lot about you. She's been filling us in on stuff no one else seems to think we should know, or what they don't know in the first place."

Sirius groaned. _He's so naive..._ "Harry, she's a Malfoy. The entire Malfoy family, all it's branches... they all support Voldemort. Always have, always will. Same as the Lestranges, Crabbes, Goyles, Blacks..."

"You don't support him, though."

"That's not the point." Sirius snapped, picking up a chicken leg, one of the ones his niece hadn't touched, just in case. "I just want you to watch your step, Harry. With Peter running around loose, Voldemort's got at least one supporter free. And once he's back to full strength, the Malfoys'll be the first ones back on their knees."

Ron, who had also grabbed a piece of chicken, said, "I dunno, I can't see her kneeling to anyone..."

"...I think she'd sooner die. And stop eating Sirius' chicken, Ron, you can have more when we get back to the castle." Hermionie removed the platter of chicken from Ron's reach, settling back down between Ron and the food.

"Fine. Just be careful, alright? Voldemort doesn't exactly let his followers have much of a choice in the matter. Now, what's been happening at school, I want to know everything."

They did fill Ryua in on the conversation, of course. She was a little sad that Sirius would be quite so against her, but that was life. She was glad Harry had an adult to talk with, however, she understood completely.

And so they started teaching Harry how to jinx, curse, hex, and otherwise disable anything that might come his way. Not only would it probably make Sirius happy to know Harry could defend himself, Ryua was glad to finally be able to help Harry with his tasks. She suggested no end of curses, and Hermionie wrote down some of the more basic ones, especially ones they'd be able to find in a library to study. Harry proved to be a fairly good student, and Ron and Hermionie came to dread his practices as much as Ryua's demonstrations.

"Oh, quit whining you two. We haven't hit you with anything that bad." Ryua said, hands on hips as Ron clambered up from the corner where Harry's Impediment Jinx had just thrown him.

"Not that bad?" Ron's expression was incredulous. "You try getting hit with stunning spells and jinxes and stuff over and over!"

"Well, if you don't believe me, I could always demonstrate some worse ones..."

"Ahh... no, that's just fine, Ryua, Harry'll be just fine with legal curses, thanks." Hermionie clearly didn't want to get hit with any more spells.

"See Harry? Snuffles was right, she's dangerous!"

"Of course I am, Weasley, but only to people who deserve it..." Ryua said, twirling her wand casually through her fingers.

"Er... why don't we move onto shields, and we can curse you two for a while?"

Ryua grinned, "Okay, but you have to wait until I've taught him a shield charm."

"Wait. I thought you said you were rotten at charms..." Harry looked a little nervous.

"Not the ones that you can actually use for something."

"Hey, Accio's useful!"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know what it is, but trust me, I can make a shield charm. Now, do you want an absorbent one, or reflective? Or, I read about that can inflict as much pain on your opponent as you have anger..."

"Er... I thought spells like that were illegal too."

Ryua sighed. Trust Hermionie to have read which shields were illegal. "Oh, fine, I'll just teach you a basic bubble then."

Two hours later, Harry still couldn't get a proper shield in place. After Ryua had hit him with a curse hard enough to knock him right unconscious for ten minutes ("I thought he had a better shield than that...") Hermionie had taken over. Ryua had taught him two different shields, and Hermionie and Ron had coached him through a third, and none of them seemed to work. "Well Harry, it's really up to you. I can sit here cursing you all night, if you want to keep practicing, but with luck, you won't need a shield anyway."

"Yes, you should be able to stun whatever it is from a distance, before it can attack you. Just keep those quidditch skills in practice, and dodge a lot."

"And if all else fails, mate, just run really fast in the other direction!" Ron piped up from the corner. Even he'd been able to shatter Harry's shield on the second try.

"Maybe you're right," Harry sighed, dropping the shards he'd been trying to weave into a shield. "I need rest more than anything."

"And we need to study for exams. Just because you get to goof off doesn't mean we can." And with that, Ryua left for her common room. Studying curses with the Trio had been a pleasant distraction, but the problem she'd been ignoring still remained. Tomorrow morning was her Charms exam. And she really didn't want to come home with a Below Average, which was what her mark was riding at now. She sat down in her customary fireside chair, and pulled out her textbook, determined to pound the information into her head.

Three hours later, she realized she'd been reading the same paragraph about animal noise charms for a while now. _Well, _she thought, _I can't do any more tonight, that's obvious. Hopefully, Flitwick will put a lot of stress on trivia and shield charms than actually charming things... otherwise, I'm screwed._

"Ryua, if you'd come up here please." With a slightly sinking feeling in her stomach that she refused to let onto her face, Ryua walked up to Flitwick's desk. She'd woken up nervy that morning, and forced herself to eat something (she couldn't remember what) at breakfast, reviewing her notes the whole time. It appeared to have paid off for the written test, anyways; she'd known at least half the questions. Now, she just had to see what he wanted her to do for the practical. "Please make this dinner set dance into the sink, scrub off the dirt, and into the case. Avoid cracking the porcelain, if you can."

Ryua sagged. She'd hated the dishes unit. She hadn't been able to make it dance, clean, or put itself away. Pulling out her wand resignedly, she tried weaving the proper spell. Hermionie's and Flitwick's voices echoed in her mind, sculpting her hand movements, setting the proper incantations in her mind. Unfortunately, none of this seemed to have much effect. Taking a deep breath, and trying to ignore the snickers from the class, Ryua tried drawing directly through her magic, like she'd learned this summer. She pulled at the now upset pool of silvery power, but couldn't connect it to her spell, it kept slipping stubbornly back down into the pool. She looked over at the pile of dirty dishes lying so innocently and unmoving at the end of Flitwick's desk, seeing him shift as if to call her off the test.

Her sense of pride exploded within her. Straightening up, she stepped back a few paces, whipped her wand down at the dishes, and snapped, "Arachipedia!" Eight furry legs sprung with surprising speed out of the bottom of everything on the desk, even the forks and knives, and one of Flitwick's quills that had gotten left too close. She'd found that particular curse in a book about playing on someone's greatest fears. It was meant for use on an arachnophobe, like Ron.

"Tarrentallegra!" she hissed, flicking her wand at them. For some reason, she was having no trouble with this dancing spell, as the cutlery and china started jerking around the desk, reluctantly following her wand down the cleared path. She immobilized the quill with a quick word, realizing Flitwick probably wouldn't like his quill dunked in soapy water.

Once the last of the spoons had toppled into the sink attached to the end of his desk, Ryua paused for a moment. _Now, what curse can I use to fake out Scurgify...ah._ "Incendio!" As the water heated up to a boiling temperature, she said, "Banshichante!" That one had come out of an old book one of her great-great-great grandfathers had stolen from some Court Magician in France, and as for the effect... Everyone winced as a piercing sound, somewhere between a banshee's scream and an insect's hum penetrated the room. Setting her jaw to keep her teeth from vibrating, Ryua forced the sound into a funnel aimed at the sink. After twenty seconds, she couldn't stand it anymore and released the spell, refusing to sigh with the rest of the class in relief. With her left hand, she used gesture magic to lift up the dishes which had been blasted sonically clean.

"Wateraga!" A blast of water from her wand hit the dishes she was still holding in midair, which she then set down on the still jerking spider legs. She directed them into the box with a flick of her wand, then said, "Finitae Incantatum." The legs stopped jerking around, then dissolved, leaving a jumble of clean plates in the box.

"Well. That was... creative."

"But sir, she didn't use a single charm!" Draco whined from his desk. When Ryua glared over her shoulder at him, he gulped and shrank into his seat.

"Well, that is quite true, Mr. Malfoy. Although, I see all of the dishes, clean, intact, and in their case. That does fulfill the requirements I set for the test, doesn't it?"

Ryua wouldn't let herself get excited, not until she heard him say it...

"Although your unorthodox methods weren't what I had intended you use, you still completed the test, in a fairly respectable time, although not as fast as if you had started immediately. Therefore, I see no reason not to mark your practical exam as an Above Average. Miss Malfoy, you may take your seat."

Ryua sat down hard in her chair. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't bloody well believe it. She'd cursed her way through a Charms Final Exam, and gotten a very acceptable mark, and by the cheerful expression on Flitwick's face, had impressed him. If she could keep doing the written work properly, and use hexes to accomplish the actual result... maybe she could pass her OWL next year after all. Draco, who had shattered two glasses and a plate through carelessness when they waltzed off the desk, didn't look nearly so happy.


	68. The Third Task

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

The Third Task

It was the day of the third task, and Harry was actually sitting at the Gryffindor table, and appeared to even be choking down some food. _He must be feeling pretty good about the task. Of course, after the amount we drilled into him, he'd better be feeling confident..._ Draco, of course, was trying to rouse the Slytherin House into a de-moralizing antic of some sort, but she didn't think he'd have much success. Everyone was too excited about the task itself to care who was participating.

Except for Zabini.

He'd been doing nothing but stare at her lately. He never went near her, or tried to get at her stuff, or torture her snake, or anything but look. She'd drawn her wand at him once or twice, and he obediently blanched and ran away, not to bother her for another day or two. All in all, she figured she could handle a little glaring, especially with some real friends to keep her company, even if they sat at the other end of the Great Hall.

The evening came, and the Great Hall was alive with chatter. Everyone was talking about the tasks, wishing Fleur, Viktor, Diggory, and Harry the best (or worst) of luck, and devouring every scrap of food the house-elves put out. Ryua noticed that Harry had visitors, as did Fleur. Hers were obviously her mother, and little Gabrielle, of course, but the people sitting with Harry appeared to be yet more Weasleys. As if Fred, George, Percy, Ron, and Ginny weren't enough, and Charlie with the dragons, there was apparently yet another brother she hadn't met yet. And even more incredibly, they all seemed to possess the same, friendly Weasley charm. _Hmm..._

Ryua held back behind the Slytherin table, and behind most tables, since it took Mrs. Weasley a rather long time to wish Harry good luck. She fell into step beside them and Fleur's family (apparently they were having a 'champions' family section', or something). "Er... Mrs. Weasley? I was wondering if I could sit with you... I'm one of Harry's friends, Ryua."

The plump, jolly looking woman surveyed her with kindly, if slightly untrusting eyes, (_Well, I am a Malfoy...) _when her expression suddenly cleared. "Oh, Ryua! Of course, Ron's told us all about you, I'd be pleased to have you sit with us. Come along then, dear, we've got seats reserved for us, and we don't want to miss any of it. And this is Bill... Bill... BILL!"

Bill had quietly lost interest in the conversation, and was busily watching Fleur glide towards the main doors, making Viktor, Harry, and even Diggory look rather clumsy and scruffy in comparison. He jumped very quickly to attention when his Mother yelled, however, and said in an innocent voice, "Yes, Mum?"

She sighed, exasperatedly. "Bill, this is Ryua, Ron's friend, remember? She'll be sitting with us."

"Sure. Nice to meet you, Ryua." He shook her hand, but slid almost immediately back into watching Fleur as she passed out onto the field ahead of them. In fact, he started to drool slightly at the corner of his mouth, and earned a sharp thwack on the back of his head from his Mum. "Ouch, Mum, what was that for..."

"You know very well what it was for, William Weasley! Now, keep your eyeballs in your head and march straight ahead!" Mrs. Weasley brandished her purse at him again, and he ducked and skipped a few paces up as Hermionie and the rest of the Weasleys joined the group.

Ryua grinned. For all the yelling, and mock-fights, the Weasleys were such a perfect family. She'd give so much to be part of a group like that... nearly anything she had, in fact. _Well, I'll just have to see about becoming even better friends with them, then. It doesn't seem like it'd be too hard, actually..._

And it wasn't. Mrs. Weasley and the twins were amiably chatting with her about the portraits, students, food, giant squid, what to blow up next... whatever came to mind. And once Fleur got out of sight, Bill joined the conversation too, and it switched to speculations about the task. It appeared that Mrs. Weasley had rather taken to thinking of Harry as another one of her children, and was proving to be almost sick with worry. Once Ryua said she, Ron, and Hermionie had been teaching him to curse things, she looked a bit on the pale side, but not so green anymore. Once the task started, she alternated between squeaks of fear (and it didn't seem to matter which Champion was being squished, she was still as upset as if it were Ginny) and a tense, grim expression.

"At least he's having a fairly easy time of it." Ryua remarked after a half hour or so.

"Easy? You call that-that beast easy?" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.

"Well, maybe not easy, but we've been raising Blast Ended Skrewts all year, he can handle them. And he's been able to do Boggarts since last year, and whatever that spell was didn't bother him at all. It's like he's just avoiding them before he has to blast anything out of his way. Not like Fleur, there..."

She had just gotten stuck in a dead end, and there was a rather large stallion Hippogriff coming up behind her. Apparently he'd staked out this little corridor as his own, and was completely ready to kill anyone he found trespassing. Shaking just a little, Fleur bowed deeply and gracefully, managing to keep a steady, submissive gaze with the huge black beast in front of her. He snorted, cocked his head to get a better look, and ruffled his wings. Ryua could see Fleur tense, ready to spring out of her bow, when suddenly, the Hippogriff sank to its knees. Breathing a sigh of relief, Fleur started to edge past it, still keeping in a half-bow. She was all the way to it's flank when it let out a blood curdling shriek and whipped around, catching Fleur with a hoof, cutting off her own scream of panic. Professor Moody stunned the Hippogriff through the hedge and levitated Fleur out, being the nearest teacher, as well as the one who could see through walls. Madam Pomfrey rushed over, as well as Madam Maxime, and MRs. Weasley was entirely ready to faint. Ryua patted her on the back, muttering something about Madam Pomfery's competence and that she'd be fine, and noted that Viktor and Diggory were just coming around a corner face to face.

Unexpectedly, Viktor raised his wand, ignoring Diggory's yells, and cast something that sounded remarkably like the Cruciatus curse. It looked remarkably like it too, as Diggory collapsed to the ground, screaming and writhing.

And being the hero that he was, Harry blasted a hole in the hedge and stunned Viktor right then and there. And not only was he being a hero, he even sent up sparks so that a Skrewt wouldn't eat the insensible Champion. Then, quite cheerfully, they parted company again. It took Harry only five minutes to puzzle out a Sphinx's puzzle, which pleased Hermionie to no end, and he was let into the final corridor. Diggory, having just shaken off a ditch full of Red Caps, stumbled into a branch just ahead of him, and something very large and furry barreled out of the opposite passage.

Ron squeaked, went green, and slumped down in his seat. The Acromantula was on a beeline for Diggory, all Harry had to do was run past it... but no. Of course, he had to attack it. And get bitten. And then dropped. And then almost squished. At least the person he'd sacrificed his clean win for was even more of an upright person than Harry. Diggory hauled him to his feet, and they moved slowly and painfully to the cup.

The round of cheers that started to rise as they grabbed it was rather abruptly cut off with shrieks of fear as both boys disappeared. Mrs. Weasley and Amos Diggory were of course the most frantic, but the rest of the crowd was making a rather lot of noise too. Dumbledore, marvelous wizard that he was, managed to get everyone under control within 15 minutes, and was just starting to organize the teachers into a search squad when Harry and Diggory appeared back on the now-cleared quidditch pitch. Moody seized Harry immediately, something easily done in the outcry over Diggory's death. _Death? Who would kill someone like Diggory? He was never a danger to anyone..._

Dumbledore blanched, quite suddenly, and took off in the same direction Moody had gone. Mrs. Weasley ordered everyone to go to their common rooms, which of course, none of them would, so they all trooped up to the Hospital wing, knowing that's where Dumbledore would bring Harry eventually. And so they waited.

Author's Note: Sorry to end it there, people, but I have to go... at least if anyone wants me to update tonight.

The fifth book, and all the ones coming afterwards, will be under a separate story. This one takes me too long to load the story screen, and I've had to change the rating anyway at the fifth book, so it's a good place to stop. The name will be the same, just with 'part two' after.


	69. Resurrection

Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

Resurrection

Harry did come upstairs eventually, looking deathly pale, but alive. Mrs. Weasley shrieked a little, although Dumbledore kept her from suffocating him. Instead, she let out her 'mother energy' by hushing the silent group of friends. "Did you hear? He needs quiet?"

"Yes ma'am!" Ryua whispered, winning a nervous grin from Ron and Hermionie. Harry, on the other hand, just fell into a hospital bed and could only drink half the potion he was handed before he went right unconscious. The others pulled up chairs and sat in for a grim night, full of unanswered questions.

Some time, well after midnight, McGonnagall came storming into the hospital wing, Fudge right behind her. Hermionie woke with a jerk, her head coming up off of Ron's shoulder, and Fred and George looked up from their joke shop books. The others snapped to attention, as McGonnagall was rarely in a rage. As she began to rant about Barty Crouch getting eaten by a Dementor, Ryua's sleepy brain started to sluggishly move. Crouch... Crouch... both of them had been ruthless, but they had both taken different sides. But Bartemus was dead now, and Barty died years ago in Azkaban...

Unless he didn't die. If he managed, some way, to get smuggled out, there were surely enough people who remembered him fondly or at least with a deep-tied comradeship... he'd been a number one supporter of the Dark Lord.

And Harry had been having those headaches, and visions of Him returning...

And the Dark Lord would have quite willingly killed someone as decent and non-threataning as Diggory...

_Oh shit._

Ryua blanched in her chair, barely hearing the argument in the background. If He was truly back, even if He was going to bide his time... He'd be gathering supporters. He'd be checking on the Death Eaters. And he wouldn't be pleased.

Which meant that her father would quite possibly be coming home either celebratory, or in a great deal of pain. Either one meant that he'd be quite likely to curse Ryua around the house for a while, and when he was done, she'd be presented as a possible candidate... oh, forget possible, she'd be thrown directly into top ranks. She'd be branded with the Mark before she had a chance to blink. And then she'd be forced to betray her friends, bit by bit...

_I shouldn't be hearing this. I want to, but I shouldn't be hearing this... He'll get it out of me, and I'll lose them whatever tiny advantage they have left..._ Luckily for her, Mrs. Weasley seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Quietly, not that anyone would hear her over the ruckus McGonnagall was making, she touched Ryua's shoulder, urging her to her feet. Numbly, she obeyed.

Out in the corridor, with the heavy oak door shut, it was much quieter. Quiet enough that Ryua's mind could fully concentrate on the lovely events placed before her. "Oh, Mrs. Weasley... I'm dead. I am so dead."

"Nonsense, dear!" she hissed. "Everything will turn out just fine, you'll see. You're a good girl, and I've brought you out here for your own protection, not because we don't trust you..."

"But, they'll go after me. They'll want me as a Death Eater, and I'll be expelled..."

"Don't think such things! You're too young."

"Too... young?"

"Yes, of course!" Mrs. Weasley was very firm, as if by being firm, she could actually make it true. "He won't pull you out of Hogwarts, it's too dangerous, and if you come to school, fifteen years old, with a Dark Mark, it'll bring it all into the open. You're perfectly safe."

"I... I have to go. It's what would be expected... I should tell the others..."

"No! No, you can't let them know- can't tell them anything because... we threw you out the moment anything occurred, remember? You know nothing to tell. Do you understand? You know nothing."

The words stung, a little. But nothing to notice. Ryua just nodded, and stalked off to the dungeons, trying to get herself in an angry, affronted mood instead of petrified.

It worked. All her four years of schooling her expression into one of haughtiness paid off, and she managed to convince everyone that she'd been tossed out before they would say anything interesting, and they all turned away bored. Except for maybe Zabini, but he just stared like that all the time. She didn't think he guessed anything, or even was aware of much. _Hmm, I wonder what his problem is?_

It turned out that she didn't have to keep her knowledge a secret for long. At the farewell feast, Dumbledore calmly announced the return of Lord Voldemort. She acted surprised along with everyone else, although remembered to act pleased too. She did raise her goblet to Diggory, and Harry, although she was one of the few who did so. _I don't care. I'd rather stand out for being respectful than blend in as a heathen. _

And on the train, she ran into just a wee bit of trouble with standing out. She'd managed to lose Zabini in a compartment of Hufflepuffs, and made her way to the Trio's compartment. "Are you sure you should be here? You know, with your family and all..." Hermionie asked cautiously.

"Of course. I'm supposed to try and find out all the details about the inner workings of whatever Dumbledore's planning. Not that you three would ever tell me anything useful to the Dark Lord, right?"

"Uh, of course not. So, how do you feel about taking OWLs next year?" Harry said in a falsely cheerful voice.

"Well, I cursed my way through my Charms final this year, I doubt the Ministry examiners will accept that next time... Hermionie, what are you doing with a jar full of leaves?"

"Oh, that's Rita Skeeter!" Ron said from his bench, which he managed to take up the whole of.

"Skeeter? You finally caught her? Good job, she deserves to be humiliated. Or if you want, I could feed her to my snake..." Parsyl obligingly reached out from Ryua's bag and tapped her nose on the glass, sending the beetle scurrying under a leaf.

"Nah, I've got it all figured out," Hermionie said, sliding the jar back into her bag. Before she could elaborate, however, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle walked in. She held her peace, concentrating on polishing Parsyl's scales, trying not to pay any attention to what was going on. Parsyl hissed and slipped out from under her fingernails before long however, Ryua was digging hard enough to hurt. And when he said "Well – second – Diggory was the..." she jumped to her feet, throwing her father's static curse at all three of them. For a split second, she thought her emotions had really ran away with her magic, then noticed Harry, Ron, Hermionie, Fred, and George all had their wands aimed too.

"Interesting effect," said George, "Who used the Furnunculus curse?"

"Me," Harry said, lowering his wand with a cheerful smile.

"And what was that nasty electric spell? It did something really weird to the tickling charm I set on Malfoy here..."

"That was mine. It changes the ionic charge of your skin, so all the particles of whatever is touching you bombard you with the kind of force only opposite magnets can pull. Quite painful, and your tickling charm is one of his personal hates. An excellent combination, Fred, if I do say so myself."

He looked kind of scared for a second, then his face split into a nasty grin. "Now, this is a Malfoy who uses her evil powers for good!"

"Or evil," George put in as he kicked out Crabbe.

"Depending on whether you're us,"

"Or them!" A last kick tumbled the purple-tentacled hulk into the corridor. The other two followed quickly, and they sat down to play Exploding Snap.

Just before the train pulled into the station, Ryua got up with a sigh to go start reviving her brother. Draco might not buy it, but if she was acting angry and worried enough, maybe she wouldn't get blamed for siding with Gryffindors in a duel.

Author's Note: Hah! Done the fourth book! _Finally... _


End file.
